By Ethan Benedicto
Revitalising is at the forefront of every candidate’s vision for the ward of Akoonah, from Berwick Village to the numerous parks and reserves; however, a prioritisation of what this entails is a varied discussion, with suggestions for better governance to bringing things back down to basics.
Kushal Shah, through his experience with his role in professional services and providing advice and solutions to the private sector, has emphasised the need for a strong focus on proper financial governance and management, seeing it as the root of all issues that plague the city from residents’ cynicism to the lack of support on small businesses.
“The root cause of all the problems that we have is inefficient financial management, these are all the symptoms because whoever you ask, everybody has their own views on what problems we have,” Shah said.
“Once you have good financial management, we have more resources at our disposal, we have better decision-making, and whether we invest that extra cash or into extra resources in community safety, or revitalising Berwick Village, we will have that flexibility.”
Shah added that aspects like the increasing crime rate, red tape and other similar issues in the ward have their foundations with improper financial investments, which if addressed, then allows the residents from throughout Casey to make informed decisions on their issues and what aspects they would like to prioritise.
Using crime as an example, Shah said that if the ward has funding available due to better finances, “we can use that funding to fund CCTV cameras in the area,”
“For example, we could have some form of control centre in the council to monitor certain regions.
“We could also be using that funding for neighbourhood watches which is currently lacking,” he said.
Scott Dowling is of the same mind, agreeing that proper fiscal responsibility is a must for every councillor and that it is only when this is met that the necessary actions can be decided for the ward.
He added that there is a need to prioritise spending and ensure that council funds are allocated to areas that “genuinely need them”, and for him, this means tackling revitalisation through upgraded facilities to make Berwick and its surrounds much more welcoming and usable for the community.
For him, it’s about making sure that infrastructure is able to “welcome the community, so people want to use them”.
“Like in the parks and in the gardens, down the gardens; there are a lot of graffiti that needs to be removed right away, a lot of the side streets and the parks are very dark at night and so on.”
In order to do this, Dowling said it’s all about “making sure that [Akoonah] gets its fair slice of that economic pie”.
“Until you get in and understand where it’s all going, you can’t put a policy together, [but] that’s when you can say to the people, ‘I have an economic plan’ and be honest with them about what it is”.
Shah reinforces that this approach, which focuses on the financial aspect would apply to the entirety to Casey and not just Akoonah, a method that, if applied correctly would be a benefit to all.
“Let’s talk more broadly about Casey, businesses are under the pump based on the cost of living pressures,” he said.
“They’re paying too much money for electricity, gas, labour, taxes, rates and land tax, but again, if we have better financial management then we can give them some relief in terms of the taxes and rates.
“They’re not saying, ‘help me run my business’, they know how to do that – they need help in managing the costs and as a council, we should be helping them by reducing how much we charge them, they don’t see the value.”
Patrick Ferdinands wants to see good governance on all levels of the council, seeing it as an essential part of what makes a community thrive, which means that financial management and decision-making are a must.
Aiming to build on the work of the existing council administrators, he wants to ensure that the community’s voice plays a role when it comes to governance.
“Good financial governance is obviously the bedrock of any community objective because in order to have outcomes, you need to have the financial support and the infrastructure there,” Ferdinands said.
“When we talk about finance, council finance, it doesn’t come arbitrarily or from thin air, it comes from the pockets of the residents and the community grants and other things that come in – it’s public money.
“That public money needs to be spent wisely, and if we’re spending it within our community, we need to ensure that it aligns with the objectives of said community.”
A strong community voice on what revitalisation looks like is needed according to Ferdinands, where the process should not be dictated by a single vision but instead reflect the desires and expectations of the residents.
“If we’re talking about building or changing the structure, or revitalisation, we need community input into what it would look like,” he said.
“It’s not going to be the thoughts or views of myself or any other candidate; it’s also going to be about encouraging open communication so that decisions like this can actually meet the public’s expectations.”
For this process of revitalisation to happen, a few prior steps need to be taken through social opportunities such as public meetings, online discussion platforms, surveys and polls to workshops and advisory committees.
Utilising existing assets in Akoonah Ward and combining them with technology and sustainability in order to enhance the area, is what revitalisation looks like for Dianne Pagliuca.
Focusing on the ward’s current strengths, such as education and healthcare, as well as finding ways to support and integrate these sectors into the community’s fabric is key, much akin to the current Living Labs initiative by Casey.
As an example, the Edward Flack reserve could be a potential place of, and a person of celebration, “is there something that we can do to sort of celebrate that, whether it be a fun run or something along those lines?”
“It’s about looking at those age-wide interactions and how we can bring that into Berwick Village – we’ve got Akoonah Park, Wilson Botanic Park, and so on.”
With the vision of incorporating more sustainable and renewable energy in council, Pagliuca believes that every small step taken by the people and the council to reduce waste and carbon footprint can make a significant impact.
“If every council looked at how we can stop waste, how we can reduce out reliance on fossil fuels and such, these small steps make a big impact.
“The City of Casey is already heading toward zero emissions, and they’re doing that by making their buildings more energy efficient,” she said.
She also added that Casey is in a fortunate financial position to endeavour on these initiatives, but also insists that the ratepayer’s money should be treated with respect as if it were the councillors’ own.
“Councillors need to get smart with their money by saving it through sustainable initiatives, [currently] they’re starting to put LED lights for street lighting, making buildings more sustainable through solar panels and so on,” she said.
An outlying factor is safety, with every councillor agreeing on different methods to achieve this, to mitigate criminal and or anti-social behaviour.
Mush Rahaman sees safety as a primary step towards the ward’s prosperity; having been a recent victim of a near-carjacking incident, he emphasises that criminal issues cannot be solved through strict enforcement alone.
“We need to have strategic planning where we work to slowly clean up, it cannot be that strict because that won’t change the mentality,” he said.
“Berwick used to be safe, and people are used to that and we have to keep it that way, we never used to worry about it, but our habits need to slowly change.
“There are a few approaches, precautions like advocating for more frequent policing, the neighbourhood watch – this all has to be initiated.”
Ringing a similar tone, Rahaman also believes that a strong economy can “afford to do many things”, such as the initiatives he previously mentioned.
“These young families need support, elderly people need support, these business people need support [so] we need to look into the root and if the root is strong, then everything else can be done,” he said.
Samuel Dennison believes that revitalising the ward means prosperity through community engagement, whether it be through events, festival, and activities that bring the people together.
Small things such as seasonal decorations such as “Christmas lights and Halloween lights, decorations for different times of the year, even multicultural events such as the Holi Festival.”
“It’s about making sure that we’re not just pleasing one part of the community, but making it fun for everyone; and we also haven’t had the Berwick Festival in years, that used to bring people down here as a destination point.”
Dennison agrees on the importance of good financial governance but stresses the point that Casey is in a relatively strong financial position, saying that “I don’t think we should be inferring that there’s currently any financial mismanagement”.
“Because to be fair, we’re in a strong financial position with a $500 million budget so I just think we have to be fair and say, look, ‘I want to become a councillor and as a local council, we can improve the representation of residents and people’s feedback’,” he said.
These steps taken to bring more people in, and to cultivate a sense of community in the ward play a hand in deterring the mentioned criminal and or anti-social behaviour, but methods such as improved lighting in parking areas and additional CCTV cameras were also suggested by Dowling and Pagliuca as a having a more direct and immediate response.
Ultimately a strong focus on fostering growth, mitigating crime and good governance, at the fiscal and personal character level is central to many candidates’ vision, but it’s what comes after that is still up for debate.
