Public participation - necessary but not sufficient

Prior to going to the UK I pioneered the use in Australia of certain approaches to public participation in natural resource management R&D. Not long after my arrival in the UK (in 1994) I had a call from a senior researcher at a government research institute who said: 'I hear you know something about public participation? We have a project funded by ODA (now DfID) in India who insist it has a participatory element. We have done this but now we have one of our counterparts doing a study tour of England and he wants to know why they have to do participation when we can show him no examples of it here!'

This was an excellent question on the part of the Indian researcher.

Now things have changed dramatically ...or have they? The discourse and rhetoric, and to be fair, the practices have changed dramatically. So has our own research. From our perspective what is now happening is the uncritical incorporation of demands for public participation into almost every project. The result, too often, is poor practice, stakeholder burnout, the experience of being participated etc. We would now claim that participation is necessary but not sufficient. The reasons why it is necessary can be gleaned in a recent report from the UK-based NGO Involve. Here are the headlines from the report:

"Headline Findings:

• There remains considerable enthusiasm among politicians, policy makers, researchers and practitioners for continuing and enhancing public participation. Understanding of the benefits is growing in general terms, although there is significant unwillingness to quantify these benefits - and particular reluctance to 'monetarise' the benefits (assign a monetary value to them).

• There is a serious lack of data on the practical costs and benefits of participation, for a range of practical and ethical reasons.

• The lack of understanding of potential costs and benefits makes it difficult to develop a coherent hypothesis about participation overall.

• New analytical frameworks are needed. Participation is a new and crosscutting approach that is only partly captured by existing academic and professional disciplines. A new theoretical model is needed that goes beyond the disciplines and fields within which participation began.

• Participants' perspectives are critical to defining the costs and benefits of participation. Only by including this perspective alongside that of institutional interests, and considering the wider impacts on local communities and society as a whole, can the true costs and benefits of
participation be understood.

• Greater investment in assessing participation processes is required, to build a robust evidence base.

• A simple framework for capturing the actual practical costs and benefits of participation is needed, to complement the wider thinking needed around broad new analytical frameworks. In this way, simple data can begin to be captured and provide benchmarks against which future activity can be tested.

Our recent research on social learning addresses some of the concerns raised by this report. Policy briefings can be downloaded from our SLIM website; a special issue of the journal Environmental Science & Policy (vol 10, (6)) will be devoted to SLIM research findings. It should be available in August.

Powerful documentary 'Our Daily Bread' reveals ethical and systemic failings of 'modern food systems'

In Avignon last night I went to see the documentary feature length film 'Our Daily Bread'. It is a powerful, absorbing account of the interplay between the ' mechanisation' of life as well as the over-mechanisation of contemporary European food production. Directed by Nikolaus Geyrhalter, it has received critical appraisal wherever released. It is recommended viewing, especially for those who research, design, engineer or fund modern food production methods, not to mention those who consume!

New series of essays - 'Making Connections', launched in Nature

In an editorial to Nature, volume 445 on the 25th January, 2007 a new series of essays based on systemic understandings was announced:

'The essays in the Connections series will illustrate some of the insights that are emerging as researchers pursue more holistic approaches to problems, while engaging in an unprecedented degree of collaboration between biological, social and physical scientists. They will raise provocative ideas about how to probe dynamic systems, illustrating, for example, how systems approaches can challenge assumptions established within the more reductionist framework of twentieth -century-science.'

Tipping point in climate change debate symbolized by Time article

In a Time special double issue (April 9 2007) devoted to 'The Global Warming Debate' a set of '51 things you can do to make a difference' are outlined. Suggestions range from purchasing to planning - some appear as technical magic bullets, and little is said about overall consumption levels, but the piece is symbolic of where most of the world is at - no longer debating what climate change is, but how to address it. I wonder if decision makers in the US and Australian governments have read it? Given recent criticism of the Australian government stance by ACF (Australian Conservation Foundation) I hope so!

The Trap - What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom (BBC2)

has been gripping viewing over the last three Sunday nights. Not that I agree with a lot of the analysis provided but in these days of 'Big Brother' and its ilk it is so refreshing to have a programme that stimulates and challenges contemporary orthodoxies. This three part TV programme on BBC 2 has also clearly engaged the critics.

As described by BBC Press Office:

'The Trap is a series of three films by Bafta-winning producer Adam Curtis that explains the origins of our contemporary, narrow idea of freedom.

It shows how a simplistic model of human beings as self-seeking, almost robotic, creatures led to today's idea of freedom. This model was derived from ideas and techniques developed by nuclear strategists during the Cold War to control the behaviour of the Soviet enemy.

Mathematicians such as John Nash developed paranoid game theories whose equations required people to be seen as selfish and isolated creatures, constantly monitoring each other suspiciously – always intent on their own advantage.

This model was then developed by genetic biologists, anthropologists, radical psychiatrists and free market economists, and has come to dominate both political thinking since the Seventies and the way people think about themselves as human beings.

However, within this simplistic idea lay the seeds of new forms of control. And what people have forgotten is that there are other ideas of freedom. We are, says Curtis, in a trap of our own making that controls us, deprives us of meaning and causes death and chaos abroad. '

The programme evokes a plethora of villains, some rightly cast from the economist von Hayek, John Nash, the Rand Corporation and its 'systems analysts' to R.D. Laing. In his first episode Lucas had, from my perspective, both the wrong starting point (and thus intellectual lineages) as well as not enough of the 'villains' - if one can be simplistic in what is a very complex analysis. There is also the possibility that Lucas, like some others, sees systems approaches as inextricably linked to Rand-style thinking, when this is not the case at all. Some of us engaged with systems thinking and practice have for a long time also been fervant critics of the excesses and theoretical weakness of Rand-style 'systems analysis'.

Given the same opportunty I would have started with Darwin and then the active mis-representation of his ideas - the conservation in language, theory and discourse of mistaken notions about 'competition' and the so-called ' survival of the fittest'. I would also have pointed to how understandings of human rationality (rational choice), competition (compared to cooperation) and 'systems' that come to equilibrium (compared to non-equilbrial systems) have been peversely conserved and gate-kept within the economics discipline - and thus over time, in the Treasuries of the world.

His final programme is very sobering and made me realise why I was never enthusiatic about Isaiah Berlin's work. His accounts of US destabilisatation of Nicaragua, of theory-blinkered US evangelist economists who worked alongside Boris Yeltsin in the catastrophic attempts at privatisation in Russia, repeated again in Iraq by Paul Bremmer, make gripping viewing. But, as John Fizpatrick observes in his thoughtful article, Curtis finishes on a positive note:

'It is no doubt with such thoughts in mind that at the end of the film Curtis boldly refutes the liberal sage: ‘Isaiah Berlin was wrong. Not all attempts to change the world for the better end in tyranny.’

New publication from Michel Pimbert: Transforming Knowledge and Ways of Knowing for Food Sovereignty

'In the face of the organised power of science, business and mainstream politics, the more diffuse but networked power of the growing food sovereignty movement is confronted with many challenges. In this book, the author focuses on only one of these: the need to transform knowledge and ways of knowing to regenerate locally controlled food systems. The production of ecologically literate and socially just knowledge implies a radical shift from the existing top down and increasingly corporate-controlled research system to an approach which devolves more decision-making power to farmers, indigenous peoples, food workers, consumers and citizens for the production of social and ecological knowledge. The whole process should lead to the democratisation of research, diverse forms of co-inquiry based on specialist and non-specialist knowledge, an expansion of horizontal networks for autonomous learning and action, and more transparent oversight. This implies: 1) nurturing political values that emphasise more direct citizen participation in determining research agendas, regulations and policies; 2) the adoption of a learning process approach and extended peer review in the production and validation of knowledge; and 3) enabling policies that offer citizens adequate material security and time for democratic deliberation in the context of more localised food systems and economies. '

See a copy of this report.

A symptom of a mixed up society?

After eight months away from England I have been struck by how there are absolutely no protocols for walking on a footpath or, in Milton Keynes, riding on a 'redway' on which there are many young people heading off to school!

Does this tell us something about the status of English society?

Hearing good sense being spoken

I sometimes sleep with the radio on but had not realised until the other night how much subliminal listening was happening. At about 2am on Tuesday 6th March, rather jetlagged from my flight to the UK the previous day, I was suddenly wide awake wondering who was speaking such good sense. It didn't take long to realise it was Russ Ackoff being interviewed by Peter Day of the Business Programme on the BBC World Service. See more of what Russ has to say including his article 'Why few organizations adopt systems thinking'.

The nature of organisational change and 'business education' in a climate change world

The Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) recently completed a research project entitled ‘Shifting towards sustainability: An Action Research project on sustainability practices and organisational change’. They summarised their results in terms of six major insights:

• Insight 1: Adopt a clear, shared vision for the future
• Insight 2: Build teams, not just champions
• Insight 3: Use critical thinking and reflection
• Insight 4: Go beyond stakeholder engagement
• Insight 5: Adopt a systemic approach
• Insight 6: Move beyond expecting a linear path to change

In relation to Insight 5, they found that: 'Systems thinking is the answer to this interconnectedness and seeming complexity. By developing your systems thinking skills you can better understand and manage complex situations within and external to your organisation and make long term, successful change for sustainability'. The report is worth looking at for the overview and examples.

It is a pity that many of those managers who impose change on their organisation are not informed by these insights!

For some time the USA has seemed to lag behind the rest of the world in responding to climate change. This is no longer the case in California where approaches to business education are emerging that challenge the whole systemic basis of doing business, and thus business education, in a climate change world. I will be visiting staff of the Green MBA programme at Dominican University in April to work with them and to explore the forms of social transformation they are attempting to facilitiate.

The Stamford Forum - a new systems-based 'listen then think tank'

David Wilkinson has sent advice of a new Forum whose aim is to 'develop much better connections between public and social policy and practice/implementation. We want to be a think, act, reflect and learn tank. We aim to move to much more real partnership based approaches with organisations and communities.

On the website they say: 'We are an association of people who work with and for individual, community, organisational and social development. We are not a think tank – but a Listen, Think, Do, Talk, Learn and Share Tank. We are impatient with just talking about what needs to change and take an action learning approach; this means DOING - engaging in action - as the basis for learning and new thinking'.

The UK's NPfIT (multi-Billion £ NHS IT project) exhibits more signs of systemic failure

For those who have read my earlier postings on this issue you will not be surprised to know that the saga continues. Now the NPfIT even has its own Wikipedia entry. Defensive routines by those involved seem more apparent by the day, political blustering attempts to conceal the very poor conceptual thinking at the heart of this project - much of which must originate from Downing St. As a colleague noted recently: ' Blair - he's the technophobe who became a sucker for computer salesman. He took the decision to do NPfIT and it will only be undone when he's gone. He's also the idiot who got sold on the ID database, the kids' database, the database of all vehicle movements and all the rest of it.' How he came to do this can be seen from this link.

At the core of this issue is the same intransigent thinking Blair has maintained with respect to Iraq. David Wright-Neville cites 'British military officials [who] have become increasingly exasperated at what they see as Blair's willingness to persist with a strategy ....that shows little signs of yielding any enduring returns for British national interests. Privately these officers are scathing of Blair's intransigence, which many attribute to an egotistical refusal to admit to a significant strategic blunder and to his alsmost devotional personal loyalty to Bush'.

As an aside, I would contend that systemic failure in major technical projects such as NPfIT can also be linked to the failure of politicians, civil servants and lawyers, to grasp how technology works in social systems. It is clear that many of them just do not get it! This may be due to the failings of the English A-level system which forces specialisation from age 16 (after GCSEs) so that many of these folk know little about science and technology (of course the reverse is also true).

The press is now having a field day on the NPfIT project. Recent articles include '£600,000 payout over NHS 'crash' (10 Jan 2007); A Vision of HAL (16 Jan 2007) in The Times; PCTs fail to reach halfway point on choose and book (1 Feb 2007); and 'whistleblowers' are (fortunately) starting to appear- a full listing of recent articles can be seen at this site. Even Private Eye is coming in on the act with "System Failure! A Private Eye Special on the NHS computing disaster - Britain's biggest ever IT cock-up"!

In a recent article entitled 'The NHS computer project is costly and dangerous. Only one man can alter its course', Ross Anderson argues that only a change in Downing St can avert the systemic failures that are already happening and likely to get worse. Under intense pressure Blair has begun to change course on Iraq - it remains to be seen how the Government will deal with NPfIT.

One of the most contentious issues concerns patient opt out. In a recent announcement the English 'Information Commissioner has been told that patients will have the opportunity to refuse to have their details uploaded onto the new NHS medical records system. The news comes just weeks after the Department of Health refused patients that right'.

In Australia, according to ABC radio's Background Briefing, 'The government is bringing in a new national card, called the Access Card. Everyone who uses Medicare, Centrelink, or any government service, will have one. And they're not just normal cards. They have mini-computers inside them that can store data about your name, address and anything else. The government says they're like mp3 players, and big business loves them, but opponents say they're a new version of the Australia Card - an ID card in disguise. And they say that privacy is in peril.' This site covers some of the issues in considerable detail.

Russ Ackoff's new book........

Andrew Carey, Director, Triarchy Press advises that Russell Ackoff's new book - Management f-LAWS - features in the latest newsletter from Triarchy Press.

To find out more about the book and read reviews by Charles Handy in Management Today, Peter Day of the BBC, and Simon Caulkin in The Observer, click here to go to the newsletter.

You can also read and download a free copy of a little book of f-laws (a selection of just 13 of Russell Ackoff's f-LAWS) online. Click http://www.f-laws.com/ and follow the link to the e-book.

The newsletter also has news of Triarchy's other current projects, including:
• A forthcoming book on Project Red Stripe - The Economist's groundbreaking internet project

• The Shadow Organization - rights and the absence of justice in the workplace

• Myth, Organization and the World Today

The recent announcement by PM Howard of a $10 billion water plan stimulated me to put finger to keyboard

An editied version of my essay has been published in the New Matilda Magazine. Below is a full copy of the essay.

Now, some weeks after the initial announcement the politics seems to be tipping towards the proposal, with a number of negotiated changes and the state of Victoria still holding out for alternative arrangements. I cannot claim to have any inside knowledge but many of the arguments I made in my essay still seem to stand. I had forgotton how much State-Federal negotiations include ploys to get as big a share of the cake as possible (the proposal to run Northern Rivers to the south by Premier Beattie has to be one of these - otherwise it is just plain foolish), rather than to do the right thing by the nation as a whole. In what is happening there is little deliberation - it is a highly politically charged process designed to deliver poor outcomes. The Federal plan does not bode well - it was clearly developed on the run and to grab political momentum.

$10 billion water plan perpetuates old thinking that takes us to the same old place

With global warming and climate change managing water is a situation of uncertainty and complexity where no individual or group knows the right answers or exactly what to do. The Prime Minister’s recent statement acknowledges what most Australians are coming to know: climate change is real, the drought is unprecedented and current arrangements are not working or able to adapt. It is not clear though whether the PM is fully aware of the implications of his proposals. For the first time a major policy statement accepts that climate change is real. By doing so it acknowledges, implicitly if not explicitly, that managing water is a situation of uncertainty and complexity. It is a whole new ball game!

Doing the wrong thing righter

The statement and its release at this time have to be considered at two levels, that of substantive content and as a political act. Considered individually and at face value it is difficult to disagree with the 10 points that are the centre-piece of the PM’s proposal. Together the 10 points are somewhat of a dogs breakfast, especially when the Northern Australia task force is thrown in. The whole is certainly less than the sum of its parts! It also perpetuates a form of thinking consistent with doing the wrong thing righter. It contains no sense of vision for the Australian landscape in a climate-change world, nor does it consider what is urgently needed – a national rural development strategy to deal with the nature and sustainability of rural livelihoods. Let me be clear here. Such a strategy cannot be confined to rural people as it involves thinking about the types of relationship urban Australians wish to have with rural Australians, and thus with the bulk of the food they eat, the water they may drink, contributions to balance of payments, the ecosystem services that they are prepared to pay for and, ultimately, the country they will inhabit in the future. This is a big issue but it is a long overdue conversation to be had.

Recognition of the need for a new set of governance arrangements is the most significant as well as the most challenging of the 10 points. A revamped Murray Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) is proposed. The idea of managing the Murray-Darling basin as a whole system is a good one and long overdue. But can the thinking and practices on which the proposal is based deliver what is needed to achieve this? The record of Federal bureaucracies delivering joined-up outcomes is not always good as evidenced by immigration and defence-force procurement. So an important question to ask is can a Federal bureaucracy, over-sighting a revamped MDBC, recast as a new Commonwealth Government Agency, achieve what it was unable to do in the past? This is a big ask! Recent history suggests the new agency would not be sufficiently independent of the short-term election cycle, political manipulation and control. South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, possibly recognizes this with his call for the basin to be controlled by an independent body. Water and its management needs arrangements suited to the long-haul. The MDBC may also have a history from which it is unable to escape - particular worldviews and practices no longer relevant may govern the politics and knowledge that counts within the organisation.

The PM said the plan will only work ‘if the governance arrangements for the basin are put on a proper national footing’. The espoused aim is ‘to significantly improve water management across the nation’. These are noble aims but ones we have heard before. The first wave of investment in Integrated Catchment Management Committees, to some extent Landcare, and the recent formation of Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) had similar aims. In short there have been a plethora of new institutional arrangements, key components of governance regimes, set up to better manage our water. Where are these in the new proposals? What role will they play, if any? The record is not good: each wave of innovation has added to, rather than reducing the complexity. Often stakeholders have been burnt-out and disillusioned in the process. In some situations CMAs are now competitors with Landcare groups. The old thinking believes in ‘magic bullets’, but it is now recognised that thinking in terms of ‘magic bullets’ exacerbates complexity rather than managing it. To break out of the present thinking pattern we need systemic thinking and practice which is at the heart of ecology and managing complexity.

It is no cliché to say that water is the essence of all life. This sentiment is built into the ambitious European Water Framework Directive (WFD). The Directive, legislation, applicable to all EU countries, started in 2000 and runs to 2027 and says: “Water is not a commercial product like any other but, rather, a heritage, which must be protected, defended and treated as such”. The WFD reflects a political struggle between the view that water is part of our common heritage and that of water as a commodity. The resultant policy is a hybrid between communitarian and utilitarian concerns – for example it also states that “sustainable, balanced and equitable water use” is to “safeguard and develop the potential uses of Community waters” and “will provide economic benefits”. Here in Australia there seems limited awareness of the potential unintended consequences of the current policy trajectory. It is clear that water is well on the way to being a commodity like any other. A friend seemed to sum up the established position when he said: ‘just give it all to Macquarie Bank!’ In drawing attention to this policy trajectory I am not suggesting we throw the baby out with the bathwater – water rights and pricing policy and environmental flows are significant and necessary achievements but I doubt they alone can deal with managing the emerging complexity.

What does handing over control mean?

Despite its limitations the WFD protects European citizens from outcomes based only on market mechanisms. The WFD is changing the historical basis of water management throughout Europe – water quality is now defined in terms of ecological status as well as chemical measures. No longer can water management be restricted to the water running between river banks or channels, the traditional domain of engineers and chemists. The WFD recognises that water flows through catchments on and below the surface, is linked to groundwater and estuaries; that farming and other practices affect it just as much as point-sources of pollution from industry or sewerage works. In other words, water is now the means to consider whole landscapes and human practices in those landscapes. Water and its management is now firmly a socio-technical issue. So when the PM asks the States to hand over control of the Murray-Darling river system just what is he asking? Is it merely pricing policy? Coordination of buy-backs? Or the management of water, landuse and planning – and thus social development - in the Murray-Darling basin? And what about Australia’s other river systems? Australia would do well to consider a version of the WFD overseen by an independent regulator concerned with the environmental, economic and social role of water.

The PM’s statement is testimony to the fact that our current Federal form of government does not work. It seems too simplistic to imagine that power can be ceded to the Federal Government for every complex, systemic issue that emerges as climate change unfolds. By all means debate the future of states, the needs for stronger regional government (it needs more lucid articulation) but in the mean time learn from the Europeans and also ask: In the face of climate change, how does running a Federal system differ from what is needed from nation states at a global scale?

Learning from Europe

What is significant about the WFD is that it is being implemented in a giant federal system (the EU) that is one of the most significant social experiments of our time. The WFD is also a unique piece of legislation, it is a social technology – just like the score for a piece of music it is orchestrating a performance. All agencies with some involvement in water and its management now have to ‘play together’ – within and between countries it is enabling agencies and stakeholders to work together in ways that have not happened in the past. Most will recognise that to produce a satisfying performance people in an orchestra need to do a lot of work – as individuals and together. The Europeans are beginning to do this work. In the process new understandings and practices are developing – it is a massive exercise in social learning.

My own research over the last six years has involved me with the WFD and its implementation. Through this involvement I have come to recognise that the WFD is not a blueprint but a vehicle for the adaptive management of Europe’s water. It will run over several cycles and in each cycle and in all countries implementation will change as people learn, work together and respond to changing circumstances. Taking a learning-based approach is not the incrementalism deplored by the PM, it is what is required in complex and uncertain situations. Abolishing the states or ceding all power to the Commonwealth will not escape the inescapable – that people will have to work together to deal with the uncertainties we face – we need to develop practices and understandings with supportive policies and institutions which enable this to happen. Market-based mechanisms may be necessary but they will not be sufficient. The recent conclusions of the Stern report on climate change are testimony to market failure in the face of complexity.

Social learning happens in the process of jointly constructing what is at issue and then doing something about it through concerted action. It is based on changes in understanding and practices. The PM’s plan offers “concerted action on issues important to all Australians” but are all the elements together to produce a ‘satisfying performance’? The allocation of money for upgrading ‘water information’ reveals a way of thinking that suggests more data gives more control. It is unashamedly designed for centralised decision making rather than local, distributed and self-organizing action that is context sensitive. In today’s world this seems a misplaced notion. Local and community knowledge is often as good, if not better and there is less attenuation between data and action – something vital in highly variable contexts. But even this is no good unless it is valued and practices and institutions allow its effective deployment. In the UK for example it is slowly dawning on those responsible for implementing the WFD that recreational anglers, the most popular ‘sport’ in Britain, are a valuable sauce of data for monitoring Britain’s waterways. What is more, if their stakeholding in the WFD is built they can also contribute to action to make things better.

Spotting old thinking

Australians need to recognise the limitations of old ways of thinking for managing in situations of uncertainty and complexity. Whenever reference is made to a blueprint (this implies a policy prescription unable to adapt to changing circumstances), ‘being objective’ or using ‘the best science to decide’ then caution and critical thinking is advisable. Scientific explanations will continue to play an important role, but science itself often exacerbates complexity, and provides an escape from honing processes of deliberative judgment. The WFD is a case in point. What constitutes good ecological status and thus what constitutes a ‘good river’ are essentially ‘unknowable in ‘objective terms’ – the final outcomes will be based on deliberative processes orchestrated around river basin planning and managing and comprising a wide-range of stakeholders. Moving natural resource management towards deliberative decision making is aided by use of, and investment in, social learning’ as a governance mechanism but people need to learn how to do it! Social learning involves concerted action – and the dynamics it enables are different to those induced by the traditional governance mechanisms – markets, regulation and education or information provision.

Learning from history

In policy development it seems easy to forget lessons from history. Current farming methods and irrigation schemes within the Murray-Darling basin are the direct result of past government policies, the action of scientists and advisors and many others – they did not just happen. They were conceived out of a romanticism for making a dry continent green and productive and as means to extend engineering expertise. It is easy to see this with hindsight. Understanding in hindsight is a primary characteristic of complex issues but hindsight is not ethical or equitable. Residents of the Murray-Darling basin, especially land managers, deserve to have a stake in creating future possibilities. Even so, conserving current practices and even whole industries in some contexts seems untenable. Many within these communities and sectors will already realise this, but they may not feel able to say it. Funds for buying back water and addressing historical over-allocation are to be welcomed, but in the absence of a broader rural livelihoods strategy the proposals run the risk of creating winners and losers. European Australians have transformed the Australian landscape and collectively we must take responsibility for it. There is no pristine ‘natural state’ to return to so as a society we need to determine how best to encourage, reward and relate to those to whom we delegate responsibility for managing the land. The essence of this is a social contract which market forces alone cannot negotiate.

What is staggering, given the history of farming and irrigation in southern Australia and the thinking that accompanied it, is the PM’s proposal for a task force to oversee a ‘Northern Australia Land and Water Futures Assessment’. This is clearly a political sop. The PM and task force members would do well to begin by reading the late Bruce Davidson’s ‘The Northern Myth’. It seems too easy to forget earlier bouts of misplaced romanticism regarding Northern Australia. If this initiative gains any legs it will merely recreate the systemic failures we are now trying to address in Southern Australia.

I said earlier that the PM’s statement also had to be considered as a political act. From a distance, and as someone who has lived much of the last 12 years outside Australia, I am not that well placed to divine the political implications. I perceive many of the elements of ‘wedge politics’ for which the Howard government has become infamous. It is an election year after all! Perhaps Kevin Rudd’s ready endorsement of the proposal is symptomatic of this? Or perhaps it is consistent with his views on a new Federalism? If so then both have in common the conservation of a way of thinking and reacting that is well past its use-by date. What also has to be discerned is whether old money (and proposals) has been repackaged to look like new? Despite $10 billion the stubbornness of old politics has little to offer in the face of significant changes to the way our future lives will be lived in Australia. Think of Iraq and the mess that particular ways if thinking and acting get you into when failing to appreciate complexity!

'Silencing Dissent' exemplifies more than systemic manipulation by the current government

A sobering, yet powerful event was held at the University of Melbourne on Monday 12th February sponsored by Readings Books. This was the Melbourne launch of 'Silencing Dissent' edited by Clive Hamilton (of the Australia Institute) and Sarah Maddison (University of NSW). Because of demand the venue was moved from Readings' Carlton book shop to a large lecture theatre on the Melbourne campus - a good move as the theatre was packed. Robert Manne, who wrote the forward of the book, chaired the evening; Stuart Macintyre (author of the chapter on Universities) and Clive Hamilton spoke.

To my mind this book is essential reading for anyone concerned about the state of early 21st century parliamentary democracy. The issues raised transcend the particular focus on the systemic manipulations by the Howard Government. In the Australian case the silencing of dissent is an emergent property of a set of interacting factors. The opening chapter gives a flavour:
* individual citizens have been targeted with the apparent aim of driving them out of the public domain (often using Parliamentary privilege);
* government funding is threatened or withdrawn;
* appointments of cronys to committees, boards etc;
* decisions of independent committees are overturned, or when they fail to acquiesce, abolished;
* politicization of the public service

Then there is the media, 'shock jocks' etc and of course self-censorship: Australia after all is a small place! A telling quote from the then Head of the Human Rights Council of Australia, Eric Sidoti is given:

'What we are really not sure about is whether this emerging authoritarianism is witting or unwitting; whether it has emerged as an unitended consequence of a particular inclination to the way government should operate which is about narrowly defined economic efficiencies and effectiveness; or whether it is actually the desired outcome of a Government actually convinced in the correctness of its own view of the world that it prizes the acquisition and exercise of power to impose that worldview above all else and to the exclusion of any alternative worldview' (p.10).

The arguments are compelling and disturbing more so because after listening to the talks and having read part of the book I was left feeling that many actions and consequences were similar to those I experienced in Britain under Blair. Perhaps David Marr in his SMH review of the book also sensed this when he said:

'Keep Silencing Dissent within reach, and you'll never be at a loss for the telling detail of reports repressed, parliamentary traditions ignored, talent overlooked, organisations brought to heel and whistleblowers punished. But the essays collected here don't really ask the deeper questions that might clarify why this particular government has pursued so successfully what Robert Manne calls "a partly-instinctive and partly-conscious policy of systematically silencing significant political dissent"'.

The situations in Britain and Australia have similarities and differences but the end result is a democracy deficit in both countries. In a later essay I will outline why some of this is structural, some ideological and why we are confronted by the prosepect of systemic failure of some of our most cherished democratic insitutions as we engage with a radically different climate-change world.

Back from blogger leave!

The streets of Melbourne are back to pre-Christmas flows. All but students seem to be back at work. We have collectively survived the bushfires, for the moment. Holidays have been had - in my case a first visit to Tasmania. It was not the green and verdant land of my geography lessons and imagination. Drought there too - at least while we were there. I read Nicholas Shakespeare's 'In Tasmania' as preparation for my visit. It was an enjoyable read - I recommend it to anyone interested in good travel writing wrapped up in accessible social history. It turns out he was a neighbour of ours, or at least to those folk who owned the house we were renting over Christmas. He has a vivid description of Dolphin Sands (p. 380):

" my father flew to Tasmania with the express purpose of persuading us not to sink our savings into a beach house at the end of the world. On the morning after his arrival, I came across him standing barefoot on the strand. His eyes were nailed to the horizon and I could have sworn that there were tears in them. 'I. Have. Never. Been. Anywhere. More. Beautiful.'"

Good advice from a poster in DWAF office in South Africa

In the DWAF (Department of Water and Forests) regional office in Bloemfontain on a recent visit I spotted:

The average brain is 75% water. Use it wisely. Look after our water. Together we can ensure some for all forever.

Sound advice!!

The energy debate - gaining a systemic understanding is not easy

Why is this the case? Because there are so few analyses being done by disinterested parties and because the methodologies adopted are not up to the job. Few make transparent the boundary judgements that are made in relation to any costings (i.e. what is internalized and what is externalized). It also seems that the worldviews of the investigators rarely consider the extent to which energy use minimisation and/or energy use efficiencies might be gained (mainly because this is seen to threaten economic growth, as currently calculated). Ultimately the energy is for the benefits of citizens and it will be citizens who decide. A new website with informed factsheets is aimed to help citizens make up their own minds.

Bryan Appleyard in an article entitled 'Blair's barmy army'

outlines how much money has been spent and wasted by the Blair government, including on the NHS Connecting for Health project. The claim is made that the government:

'has blown £70 billion hiring management consultants to do the work of ministers and civil servants — badly'.

New Oz think tank: will it make a difference - is this enough?

For some time I have been conscious that The Australia Institute seemed to be the only critical, alternative voice in town (i.e. Oz). Thinks tanks have an important role but I must admit to not knowing the lay of the land here very well, as yet.

None-the-less it is good to see a new one, New Matilda, launched to provide a much needed set of additional perspectives.

What would the Earth be like if you took humans away?

An intriguing article in New Scientist, worth a read. What it does not address is how, if at all, we might continue to co-evolve as a species with our world.

Sowing the seeds for systemic success

An inspiring story on last night's 7.30 report on ABC TV tells how a Festival of Healthy Living initiative of Melbourne's Royal Childrens' Hospital is helping to build resilience in disadvantaged communities. It seems to me a good example of dealing with a complex issue systemically. In the programme 'the hospital's mental health service works with professional performers to help school students create a fun show in which they learn how to juggle the ups and downs of life'. This has had systemic effects throughout the community.

Lets hope it can be sustained and the gains institutionalised in some way.

Broadband a disgrace - Rupert Murdoch agrees with me

It is not often I find Rupert agreeing with me. But on the matter of broadband we are in total agreement (see my earlier posting).

He is reported as saying:

“I think it is a disgrace, I think we should be spending – the Government with Telstra should be spending – $10 billion or $12 billion on it (so it gets to) every town in Australia – they do it in Japan, they do it in South Korea, we should be able to do it here,” he said.

“We are being left behind and we will pay for it.”

IT systems, ID cards, privacy .....and kids data bases

A significant report about these issues has just been released and gained media attention. As a colleague notes:

'These are related to the NHS IT programme. They were inspired by ministers' belief that NHS IT was working, and so could be 'rolled out' to other areas of 'e-government'. If experience - and the courts - support [the view arrived at in the report] that the children's databases are both unsafe and illegal, this will have dire effects on CfH [Connecting for Health]. NHS computing will fail similar safety tests, and keeping children's records on central NHS systems without the consent of both children and their parents will be unlawful. The NHS must therefore provide for treating dissidents without the details being recorded on central systems.'

Next Tuesday, 29th November a national campaign will be launched to persuade people to opt out of NHS central data collection at a meeting of No2ID at Imperial College [London]. The meeting publicity has also been released.

NHS staff in London lack confidence in the new IT system

according to an article on the Amicus Union web-site.

"According to an independent survey commissioned by Amicus union , NHS staff in London lack confidence in the implementation of the NHS' controversial new IT system to link GP surgeries to hospitals. Only nine per cent of respondents believed that their views had been taken into account and only eight per cent believed the new system will represent value for money. Eighteen per cent disagreed with the statement 'the new IT system will help them do their jobs better' and 49 per cent did not know. The respondents were asked a number of questions on their attitudes towards the implementation and eventual outcome of the IT new system. A surprising number of respondents were unable to answer many of the questions, choosing the "don't know" option. 42% of the respondents did not know whether the new IT system for transferring patients records between GP surgeries and hospitals would be quicker and more efficient. 48% did not know whether the new IT system would decrease bureaucracy. The survey was conducted to gauge the level of consultation over the introduction of new IT systems in the NHS. NHS Connecting for Health is delivering the National Programme for IT to bring modern computer systems into the NHS aimed at improving patient care and services. The NHS over the next ten years intends to connect over 30,000 GPs in England to almost 300 hospitals and give patients access to their personal health and care information. BT, is responsible for deploying NPfIT (National Programme for IT) software in London. Whilst the union acknowledges the importance of the new IT system for improving patient care, the lack of staff involvement is symptomatic of the NHS' and its providers failure to listen to its staff who are responsible for delivering patient care. Amicus is calling on the NHS and its providers to give end users a greater say and more information on the delivery of the new IT system. Whilst the NHS has undoubtedly got better, morale amongst health service employees is at rock bottom, made worse by a series of rapidly introduced changes without the involvement of staff. . ."

Powerful prose - 'Memoir' John McGahern's last book

I described earlier how much I appreciated McGahern's 'That they may face the rising sun'. Now, having read 'Memoir' it is possible to comprehend and appreciate the seminal childhood experiences from which his writing emerges. For me, he summed up what it was like growing up in his Ireland when he says:

'In that country [Ireland], individual thought and speech were discouraged. Its moral climate can be glimpsed in the warning catch phrases: a shut mouth catches no flies; think what you say but don't say what you think; the less you say, the more you'll hear. By 1950, against the whole spirit of the 1916 Proclaimation, the State had become a theocracy in all but name. The Church controlled nearly all of education, the hospitals, the orphanages, the juvenile prison systems, the parish halls. Church and State worked hand in hand. Women and single men were in a lower scale on the public services, a higher scale was in place for married men. The breaking of pelvic bones took place during difficult births in hospitals because it was thought to be more in conformity with Catholic teaching than Caesarian section........ People did not live in Ireland then. They lived in small intense communities,which often varied greatly in spirit and character over the course of even a few miles.' (p.210).

If one needs it, his experience provides a powerful, personal rationale for the separation of powers - of church and state.

We benefit immensely from his capacity to rise above his experience, generate such prose and to conclude:

'Through work and reading and reflection I had come to separate morals and religion, to see morals as simply our relationship with other people and the creatures of the earth and air, and religion as our relationship with our total environment, the all that surrounds our little lives. I had come to see the story of Jesus as a story among other sacred stories that sought to explain and make palatable the inexplicable.' (p.222)

As I read I wondered what the book evoked for my colleague John, who grew up in a similar Ireland and, as with McGahern, lost a Sue, whom he loved dearly, to breast cancer.

I am sometimes surprised how little some people know about the Open University
This experience mainly applies to people I would expect to know better (they have usually been involved in Higher Education for some time but seem to have a very limited appreciation of the diversity of 'university models' that exist).

The OU pioneered supported open learning. It has a main campus at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, where about 3000 staff work. It has traditional academic Faculties such as Science, Arts, Humanities, Business School, Technology, Maths & Computing (the latter two are about to merge), Health and Social Care, Education & Languages. In 2004/5 there were 202,853 students in total of whom 162,966 were from the UK. There were 782 part-time and 724 full-time post-graduate research students among these. Staff numbers in 2004/5 were 1114 salaried academic staff, 1409 academic related staff, 1909 support staff and 7497 associate lecturers. Academic staff are engaged in teaching, research, administration and third mission activity as in other HE institutions.

In the 2006 UK National Student Survey a total of 95 per cent of the OU's survey respondents reported that they were satisfied or mostly satisfied with their experience of studying with the OU; the figure puts the OU ahead of all other surveyed providers. The average "overall satisfaction" score of 4.5 of a possible five marks was the highest of any of the 129 institutions across the UK for which the survey results have been published. The OU has retained the overall satisfaction rate that it achieved in 2005. The OU were also rated first for assessment and feedback (as we were in 2005), and third for academic support (as we were in 2005). More than 157,000 students - of whom 8,800 were from the OU - took part in the survey. Further details of the survey can be found at the Teaching Quality Information website.

The achievement of this level of overall satisfaction for the second year running emphatically demonstrates the quality of the OU's teaching and student support.

The Open University's commitment to broadening access to education is being taken to another level with the launch of OpenLearn, its major new open content initiative. The OpenLearn website makes educational resources freely available on the internet, with state-of-the-art learning support and collaboration tools to connect learners and educators.

This £5.65 million project, generously supported by a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, will cover a full range of subjects from arts and history to science and nature, at all study levels from access to postgraduate. Available to learners and educators throughout the UK and worldwide, the project will be of particular significance in The Open University's efforts to widen access to hard-to-reach groups and tackle educational disadvantage both within the developed and developing worlds.

On the OpenLearn site material relating to Systems can be found under the Technology heading.

Understandascope - a second order perspective

On Monday I had a very enjoyable and long lunch with Frank Fisher whose work I have admired over many years. At one stage I tried hard to set it up so that Frank could take a sabbatical at the OU or that we could collaborate on systems-informed environmental education (particularly our Masters in Environmental Decision Making), but in the end it did not eventuate. The good news is that despite the demise of his very influential MSc (due to structural and cost changes in the local MSc 'market') he still has a project based at Monash and a new book which brings together most of his work.

The project is aptly called 'Understandascope' and uses one of Michael Leunig's insightful cartoons to symbolise the project. Frank and I are both interested in taking a double look - understanding understandings! (At the OU we use the same cartoon as an organising metaphor in our course 'Managing Complexity. A systems approach').

The book, 'Response Ability' is doubly welcome - it brings together an important set of ideas developed over a lifetime of contributing to making the difference that makes a difference. It also, perhaps for the first time, makes Frank's ideas accessible as it has sometimes been difficult to keep track of the range and scope of Frank's work.

Frank Fisher also lecturers at the National Centre for Sustainability.

His new publication is entitled RESPONSE ABILITY - Environment, Health and Everyday Transcendence the collected works of Frank Fisher.

Interested readers can purchase a copy of his book for $34.95 (plus GST) from the National Centre for Sustainability, Swinburne University of Technology Hawthorn Campus. Please call +61 3 9214 5997 to place your order.

Or contact the publishers: Vista Publications PO Box 76 St. Kilda Victoria, Australia 3182 Telephone: +61 3 9534 8881

Connecting for Health - the saga of systemic failure?

The saga with the NHS Connecting for Health (CfH) IT project continues unabated. This article from the Telegraph suggests a government moving into damage limitation mode.

"The Government has admitted that Connecting for Health, the Department
of Health agency in charge of its disastrous NHS IT programme, could be
scrapped.

The admission comes amid growing alarm in the Government at the
spiralling cost of the programme which is likely to end up at £20
billion — £7.6 billion more than its original budget."

Our group of 23 Professors of Computing and Systems (see earlier posting) has continued to monitor what has been happening with CfH and now have a public Wikki with a very wide ranging set of comments and critiques. It includes details of some further actions we have taken as a group (e.g. more letters etc) in our attempt to get government to take seriously our initial request for an independent review.

This recent action suggest that others are now beginning to recognise that they are staring systemic failure in the face!

Managing strategic risk systemically - the case of Indonesia, Australia and nuclear power

History is a good starting point for appreciating strategic risk - history of understandings, practices and situation. For example anyone entering the nuclear 'debate' ought first, amongst other things, read Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith or visit Chernyobyl in person.

Australians who have lived, worked, or visited Indonesia might also do well to reflect on their experiences there in the light of today's announcment of a new 'security pact' to be signed by both countries. This pact was negotiated secretly and has cooperation over nuclear power development as a key component. From my experience 'nuclear' and 'Indonesia' are not two terms I would ever choose to associate!! I have lived in Indonesian and have the greatest respect for Indonesian citizens but, reflecting on the physical geography of the archipeligo and the political and institutional history of the Indonesian nation, I am alarmed. Australia's own record in relation to 'technology push' onto Indonesia is also not good. Nor is the record of mine management in relation to the environment.

It seems the setting for yet more systemic failure is being created!

Norway....able to bring its system of social organization to the highest level of development yet achieved in the world

I have been wondering what lessons Australia, as a resource rich nation, could learn from Norway. Here is some background on Norway and its social model, as the first part of my inquiry.

Chemical pollution 'responsible for silent pandemic of brain damage'

For those who know about The Natural Step's conceptual framing of issues associated with sustainable development this new report will only confirm what they already know and accept. It is none-the-less frightening that we have been so reluctant to adopt the precautionary principle in relation to man-made chemicals (in addition to transgenics and, possibly, nano-'organisms' - all 'man-made'). The TNS claim is that it 'uses a scientific, systems-based framework to educate both corporations and governments in how to understand and apply the principles of sustainability in all that they do'.

This disturbing new article says:

"An explosive report from researchers in the United States and Denmark talks of a "silent pandemic" of neurodevelopmental disorders caused by toxic chemicals spilling into the environment.

They include conditions such as autism, attention deficit disorder, mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

The scientists identified 202 industrial chemicals with the potential to damage the human brain, and said they were likely to be the "tip of a very large iceberg". More than 1,000 chemicals are known to be neurotoxic in animals, and are likely to be harmful to humans."

Irene Khan makes so much systemic sense!

On ABC TV last night and again on radio national this morning Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, here to receive the Australia Peace Prize at the University of Sydney, demonstrated a powerful, ethical intellect that puts the level of public discourse, and that of the current government, to shame. Her arguments are cogent, ethically grounded and systemic. Her take on the Australian notion of 'mateship' shows how vacuous the PM's views on the same subject are. As she says, this government has renigged on its international responsibilities for creating 'mateship' at a global scale. The failure to sign the Kyoto agreement and to support UN action in Iraq being the more notable examples.

The Australian Prime Minister just does not get it!

The last two weeks have been fascinating here in Oz - a combination of circus and hallelujah! For the first time since coming into office the coalition government has been forced on to the back foot, politically, in relation to its stance on climate change. A number of factors have triggered this shift:

The first is the drought here in Oz and the underlying data about climate patterns and shifts. There are also significant, and distressing, social impacts. Drought, and underlying climate change, begin to be taken seriously by the coalition when it affects economic performance, particularly economic growth rate and the balance of payments.

The second has been the release of the Stern Report, and the resultant criticism, both explicit and implicit, for Australia's stance. The Uk Chancellor, Gordon Brown is to be commended on commissioning the report and attempting to raise the level of awareness, debate (I hope) and, hopefully, action.

The third is that the coalition is suffering in the polls - Australians are by an overwhelming majority dissatisfied with government performance in relation to climate change. Of course all three factors are interrelated.

Fortunately the government, either through clever design, or sheer good luck, has had some projects to announce as evidence of action. Some of these are welcome - others misguided.

Despite the circus (with its light as well as serious moments) what seems apparent to me is that the PM (and his government) just do not get it! (Or as my daughter reminds me, choose not to get it!). What is it that they do not get?

1. Their decision to reject Kyoto was not simply failure to sign a document, as the PM would have us believe, but a rejection of Australia's role as a responsible nation in an era when a new committment to internationalism is urgent. This is a point made lucidly by Irene Khan. Kyoto is flawed - everyone knew that, but it was a first step in what needs to be an on-going process. The stance taken by Australia and the USA has undermined the social and political capital for generating 'Kyoto 2' (as the PM is describing it!). The stance has also weakened Australia's position in international affairs, compounded of course by the government's Iraq policy (on this point see a recent survey of citizens of different countries which shows that most people see the US and George Bush as the biggest threat to international security - and how American's feel about themselves is changing).

2. The arguments as to why Kyoto was not signed appear increasingly specious. As the Stern Report makes clear the situation concerning climate change is a case of massive market failure. I wonder if this message is being taken on board in Canberra and other bastions of neo-classical economic ideology?

3. The stance in Australia can only be put down to one factor - political intervention on behalf of the coal industry (see my earlier posting). 'Clean coal' is both an oxymoron and a dangerous metaphor! Contrast the Australian stance with that of Sweden.

4. Whilst the government has launched a series of projects to address climate change what is singularly lacking is a systemically feasible overall policy. Despite recent denials there is still a policy vaccuum. It remains to be seen as to whether the PM (and the 'dirt digger' states of WA and Queensland) will accept the idea that the next COAG meeting of state and federal governments should be devoted to climate change.

5. Not only is there no coherent overall policy for climate change, the same applies to rural development. Handouts during droughts achieve very little in the long-term. What seems to be lacking is a national strategy for rural development in which all States and Commonweath are working together to effect more sustainable livelihoods for rural Australians. This involves mutifunctionality (as the Europeans describe it) as well as strategies to enhance the relationship between urban and rural Australians. This must also involve biodiversity conservation, management of ecosystem services, national strategies re feral pests and weeds and the provision of adequate services to make living in rural Australia a viable proposition in today's social and cultural context.

6. Finally there is a faith in technology and the overall technology mix that is questionable. New technology requires a conducive institutional environment. The investment in the large solar energy project is welcome. But what about wind? On my recent travels I had dinner with someone who had purchased second-hand wind turbines in the Netherlands and shipped them back to Australia with a view to setting them up in the NSW Hunter Valley. So far he has met only obfuscation and delay in trying to get his scheme going. In the German state of Schleswig-Holstein wind is already capable of providing one-third of energy needs whilst occupying less than 1% of the land area. Also, why are technologies like 'rock heating' missing from the mix?

The States are not above attention. With an election campaign in Victoria and one next year in NSW it is to be hoped that whoever is elected can, as a matter of priority, form their new governments around a whole of government approach to sustainable development.

And so back to Melbourne - the good, the bad, the ugly

I have been on the road, more-or-less, for a month. I have driven almost 5000km – some of those day-long trips of up to 12 hours. What impressions am I left with?

The good

Some of the best moments of this trip were unexpected – particular incidents with some of the friends and relatives (often distant) I chose to look up, such as the tears that came when an 83 year old first cousin of my mother’s saw, for the first time, a wedding photo of his parents, in my ‘White family’ manuscript. His parents divorced when he was a boy and his mother had destroyed all photos of his father. Later I heard how his experiences of the depression and of the hypocrisy of the established church had led him towards socialism and ultimately to becoming an active member of the Australian Communist Party – something long suppressed in my branch of the family! There were other, similar moments.

I come back more connected with friends and family and having unearthed some of the multiple narratives that give rise to one’s sense of place and identity. In Ryde Library, quite by accident, I came across a photograph taken outside Ryde Church of England Parochial School in 1873 - I feel confident it included my great-great grandmother and grandfather.

I wondered at the skills needed to read the Australian landscape. Particularly the subtle differences that need to be discerned if one is to avoid being left with a sense of unending sameness. The bark of the trees – see earlier posting – is part of it. Bark, leaves and flowers are used to identify different tree species, which together with soil type are the main features to be used in ‘reading the land’. In Europe the cultural, architectural and biopysical diversity of a 5000km journey would be much more obvious!

I was struck by the evidence of growing catchment consciousness and the never-ending blueness of the day-time sky.

I came back feeling more positive about Melbourne - it is much more accessible and people-friendly than Sydney now is - one can walk easily around Melbourne CBD and inner suburbs and the trams are great asset. Then there is the cafe scene - more accessible in Melbourne. A good city to implement 'walk-to-work day'.

The bad

For much of my trip I thought it was already too hot - a sign of living too long in England perhaps! Or more likely an effect of significant climate change. Fire and very severe drought seem certain over summer.

I was surprised to find that after 12 years the Hume Highway has not yet been completed - there are still several 'death-trap' stretches.

Imagine only one cafe in Darling St, Balmain with internet access!!!!!... and then you have to pay by the 15 minute slot, and the download speed is so slow that you can only get about one file loaded or downloaded per sesssion! Compare this, and the general 'connectivity scene' in Oz with what is happening in Milton Keynes:

'Milton Keynes looks set to become the first British town to get a high-speed wireless
network based on so-called Wimax technology.
Net connection firm Pipex is to trial a network in the town, which should be up and running
by the end of 2006.
Unlike wi-fi technology, Wimax offers high-speed net access over long distances, instead of
just a few metres.
Pipex said it hoped to have Wimax deployed in eight UK towns by 2008'.

This example reflects, it seems, a more pervasive, systemic issue - the lack of significant investment in public infrastructure. There is also a preoccupation with road developments (but not rail) in the major cities. What are the budget surpluses being used for?

I can't understand why Sydney and Melbourne are not following Ken Livingston's lead in London and introducing a congestion charge. Both cities would become much more person and bicycle friendly immediately.

The ugly

One only has to drive through country towns to discern the extent of rural poverty. In one coastal NSW town I visited over 56% of people in the local government area are registered with CentreLink (similar to social security). Australia it seems has become a series of city-based island communities on a vast continent, each with their tribal loyalties (manifest within the Federal Liberal party in terms of the Sydney vs Melbourne cabals). Has Australia an effective national rural development strategy?

It is argued on the web site of the Australian Local Government Association that:

'Soundly based economic and regional development is fundamental to the wellbeing of Australian communities. Effective local government participation is vital to the success of economic development initiatives, and local councils, singly or in groups, have long been at the forefront of such initiatives. They have allocated large amounts of time, energy and resources to promoting economic growth in their areas, and have forged valuable partnerships with business, unions and other key players. '

Despite the rhetoric my recent experience suggests that they are fighting a losing battle! Somewhere in the not too distant past rural Australia has slipped below the horizons of the majority of the population.

Australia still has, it seems, an ecologically sustainable development strategy (or at least it has a web site) hosted by the Department of the Environment and Heritage. The very same department was largely cut out of developing Australia's stance on Kyoto and responsibility for the burgeoning water issues across the nation has been vested in a new Office of Water Resources within the Prime Minister's own Department (not mentioned under 'whats new' on the DEH website!!).

Ribbon development is not common in the UK - here it blights the outer margins of almost every town and city. Planners and developers seem to be conspiring to develop urban fringe mortgage ghettos, something exacerbated by rises in petrol prices and interest rates and underinvestment in public transport. Aesthetically it leaves much to be desired and seems ill-equipped to handle the increased fire frequency we are likely to experience.

During my trip the story of air quality in Sydney's road tunnels hit the headlines. This is a particularly ugly situation, if the report I heard on air is valid. This site explores some of the issues as they stood in 2003 and the RTA gives some 'official' background.

Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney says:

'There seems to be a real resistance to government investing in public transport infrastructure in Australia's cities in recent decades. I'd go as far as saying there's actually an anti-public transport bias. Public transport has been viewed by governments as a social cost - as a type of welfare program for those who can't afford to drive. The assumption has been that if you are a productive and successful citizen then of course you will always choose to drive a car rather than catch public transport.'

She touches on perhaps the most ugly issue one encounters - a crisis in thinking, and thinking about thinking! This is coupled with, it seems to me, a deficieny in the democracy dialectic! Difference is not valued, promoted, facilitated or respected.

Contemporary images of Oz

Having a coffee in the lounge at Armidale airport – just off the New England Highway I was confronted with the following:

‘Caution
It is an offence to make jokes about bombs or weapons or leave luggage unattended. Penalties exceed $5,000
Aviation Transport Security Regulation 2005’

Overnight on ABC radio national I heard a programme exploring some of the systemic implications of current Australian legislation, drawing attention to the propensity of parliamentarians to legislate in the face of crisis, as if this were the only form of action open to them. Government is also intervening in what research can be conducted on the subject. This University of NSW site offers more perspectives.

Later from my hotel window at Cronulla Beach in southern Sydney I am invited to consider Gary’s Original Greek Yum Cha, all I can eat for only $30! A good example of cultural fusion? Also a metaphor for the current passion of urban life in Oz– eating and drinking! Obesity is a major problem in Australia. A quick walk around the local shopping centre here at Cronulla reveals every other shop as some form of food or drink outlet.

NSW is likely to burn up this summer

Yesterday, Sunday 24th September was one of those horrendous Oz days when the fragility of European settlement is revealed. Winds from the north-west, gusting at 90km per hour or more, a dry landscape and temperatures into the 30s – some of the highest September temperatures on record. Several houses were destroyed by fires, one man, a motor-biker, was killed when the branch of a gum tree fell on him as he travelled through the Kangaroo Valley (a very Australian form of death!).

In my travels on this trip – now over 3,500km – I can see that most of NSW is still in drought, some of it ‘green drought’. Unless there are significant falls of rains in the next month or so much of the grain harvest will fail or be depleted, stock will also fare poorly over a summer with little pasture growth. Worst of all, if there are more days like yesterday, much of NSW will burn. More houses will be lost and possibly lives.

Catchment consciousness

One change that has occurred, for the better, is that of (water) catchment consciousness. On road-sides and even on signs in urban roundabouts (e.g. Wagga Wagga) attention is drawn to the local catchment. It is now possible for all citizens to know their catchment address. I look forward to finding out if the extent of catchment consciousness extends beyond the placing of signs, made possible through government grants. I hope so.

Afternoon tea Oz style in the Paterson Valley

A ritual when I come to stay with my friends Cam and Jean. Recent rain has transformed a brown landscape to green.

Via Culcairn and Cookardinia to Canberra….

In Australia members of the Coleman family have been teachers or academics in every generation. My great-great grandfather, Joseph Coleman began teaching at Kurrajong Denominational School in 1865. His two sons also became public school teachers. Most of the schools they taught at were one teacher primary schools and many were in quite isolated communities. Joseph’s grandson, Horace Coleman, also became a school teacher, his last school being Cookardinia. Today Cookardina is a blink and miss place – just two sign posts on the road, unless you slow down to take a close look or follow the sign to the local cemetery. If you do go to the cemetery you will see some distinctive Australian architecture (see photo).

Coming over the ridge from Culcairn there are magnificent views of the Cookardinia valley (although it is probably not called this). I am not sure if my Coleman ancestors appreciated it or not.

On the 25th June 1923 there is on Horace’s teaching file a medical certificate saying: ‘This is to certify that Mr Horace Coleman is suffering from threatened nervous breakdown and it has been on my recommendation that he applied for leave’. His wife had died suddenly, aged about 38, a few days before. The following year is a telegram addressed to Mr Melville, Inspector of Schools, Albury, dated 22nd July 1924 saying: ‘Mr Coleman teacher Cookardinia passed away last night. Dulcie Coleman’. Dulcie was just 17 and her sisters Iris and Myrtle, 12 and 10 respectively. Horace was 43. It was a hard life.

Rural Australia is still a hard life for many – I passed several mobs of cattle out in the ‘long paddock’ (the roads and travelling stock routes) that are used in times of drought. The countryside was green but it will be a green drought without further rainfall.

On the Murray …Corowa and Australian Federation

In the 1890s economic activity was being constrained by the taxes and tariffs that the States were imposing on trade with each other. This was in part the impetus for the 1892 Federation conference in Corowa. As an aside, one of Daniel Coleman’s sons-in-law, Edward Hyde McGuiness, was a tax inspector, and may have had something to do, indirectly with the Corowa conference. The bridge over the Murray joining Wahgunya with Corowa was one of the main crossing points from Victoria to NSW.

Another of Daniel’s sons lived for a time in Corowa and, as I had never been there, this was my next stop. Of the many motels in town only one had broadband access! It just happened to be in Edward St where Edward Daniel Coleman and his family had lived just before, and during the early part of World War 1.

The historical sources were a disappointment – a continuing theme of my trip I am afraid. What I particularly found distressing was how alienated local communities seem to be (both physically and intellectually) from material and understandings about their history. Rather than politicians like the PM exhorting more effective teaching of history in schools they might do well to fund local communities to build up their resources – both social and material.

Early morning on the banks of the Murray was a joy.

Exhortations and ….................

Outside Bendigo, Victoria:

‘Let the peace of God disturb you’

For motorists on the freeway between Sydney and Newcastle, NSW

I't is better to be late than meet a deadline. '

(Perhaps this should be built into academic terms and conditions!!).

In Wagga Wagga, seeing this church and associated ‘business activity’, something not common twelve years ago, I was reminded of comments by Brasilian and Ecuadoran colleagues that the best way to make money in their countries was to start a church!

Talbot in 1860: D. Coleman, restaurater, Scandinavian Cresent

The wattles between Ballarat and Talbot were stunning. Clunes and Creswick seem intriguing places to be explored on another visit. Daniel Coleman, a brother of my great-great grandfather, married Anne Darcy, spinster, 21, born in County Tipperary, at Back Creek, Amherst (north of Ballarat), District of Carisbrook, on the 5th February 1860. Back Creek was the alternative name for what is now known as Talbot. Amherst, about three miles from Back Creek, was the main centre of mining in the area in 1865 with about 4600 people in the vicinity. In that year Talbot had a population of about 3400 with 18 hotels, including the Nil Desperandum, the United States and All Nations!

Today there are about 300 people in Talbot but is has a good café, an interesting museum, with committed staff who opened-up especially for my visit, an internet resource centre (open sometimes) and an intriguing bookshop (Slightly Bent Books) on the corner of Camp St and Scandinavian Crescent!

It was a worthwhile visit, however short - meeting Marie and her husband, finding a record for a D Coleman who had a restaurant on Scandinavian Crescent in 1860 – possibly Daniel?? There is often some reciprocity in these situations – from my research I was able to provide the name of the local Catholic Church, which no-one seemed to know - it had been deconsecrated many years ago and perhaps there were not too many Catholics about!!! Or perhaps no-one had been interested before – local history seems in a vulnerable condition in Australia, dependent on enthusiasts and the good will of volunteers. There seems little systematic support from local, state or Federal government – I am sure much is in danger of being lost.

Patterns that connect

Driving from Ballarat to Corowa via Creswick, Clunes, Talbot, and Maryborough, Bendigo, Shepperton and Yarawonga there were some patterns that connected me to the Australian landscape more than others. The bark patterns of the eucalypts, angophera and other native species was one.

In some places the colours of Europe jarred, beautiful as I have found them in other contexts.

Paul Rosenberg, following Gregory Bateson, is also concerned with patterns that connect.

Journeying for emergence....on the 'Coleman trail'

For various reasons I have, till now, missed my 'summer' holidays. So I set aside much of September to rectify things. My starting point was to drive from a wet, grey Melbourne - very welcome rain I might add - to Ballarat on the trail of my elusive Coleman ancestors. I had no firm plan and no arrangements made for the first part of the journey.

The Coleman's, my paternal grandmother's family, came from Clifden in County Galway to Australia during the 1850s. They probably came during the goldrushes and the Victorian goldfields was probably their first destination. Ballarat is a pleasant city but a bit like a large home when the kids have gone away - it is hard to fill it out, and one retreats into the main spaces leaving nooks and crannies unattended. In Ballarat miners found some of the richest sources of gold in the history of Australia - fine public buildings followed, expressions of wealth and a European statement on the (relatively) new continent.

In a research sense I struck gold that afternoon in the Ballarat Library - in records of the Ballarat East Clerk of Petty sessions. I await with interest the records to see the nature of the misdemeanours of my Coleman forbears!

Ballarat revealed misdemeanours of another type. I am being metaphorical here in relation to the lack of attention by firms and government to broadband and community access. I am staggered by how 'unconnected' so many parts of Australia are when a decade or more ago we seemed to be ahead of the game. There is no internet cafe in Ballarat. In my hotel, which was not cheap, I was promised wireless access, but in the end it was down as was their own direct connection in the lounge. Hotel staff did not seem concerned, but as I sat sipping red wine in front of the fire, numerous vistors, including UK tourists, were left frustrated. They may not be back!