Maleny forms new community action group

By Richard Bruinsma

Maleny now has a new group that aims to lobby on various issues on behalf of the community – but the group will have no formal members, no executive, no constitution, sporadic meetings, is non-political and has no specific agenda.

The group, to be called “Maleny Forums”, will be managed by volunteers and will meet at various required times when issues emerge that need united community input and effort to get positive resolutions for the town.

The idea for the group was first ignited 18 months ago by local resident Roger Westcott; subsequently, an informal committee that also includes Claire Booth, Sheila Bryden, Barry Smith, Spencer Shaw, Barry Eastman and Amelia Ross discussed the matter further and agreed to put the idea to the people.

“What Maleny doesn’t need, is it doesn’t need another organisation to suck in the energy and suck in the responsibility… it needed something where people can get together and respectfully hear about issues, debate issues, discuss issues and make decisions about issues,” Mr Smith said at the community meeting held to float the idea publicly.

“We actually think an option that we’d like to put forward is a thing called ‘Maleny Forums’… it means the possibility of holding periodic community forums on issues that are important to everyone.

“…anyone can come, nobody is barred…

“The forums we envisage would be facilitated and respectful, they’re not screaming matches, if people come along and know that these forums are about community, it’s about bringing community together, it’s not about dividing the community, it’s actually finding ways for us to go forward as a community.”

Mr Westcott, a 30-year resident of Maleny, believed there was a need for such a community group to take over from past organisations like Maleny Society and Maleny Ratepayers and Citizens Association, to be “a voice and advocate for the wellbeing of our town”.

He set about interviewing around 30 local “elders, presidents, influencers” who all “encouraged my endeavour”.

Those initial steps led to the informal “yarns” among the informal committee members, and then the meeting that was attended by about 65 local residents at Maleny Community Centre on Wednesday, July 10, to hear about the proposal, which received overwhelming support.

“The forums do not speak for Maleny; what speaks for Maleny is, if a decision is taken and an action group is going to take that forward, then that action group will actually speak for that issue in relationship to Maleny,” Mr Smith explained.

“It’s not going to be about forming memberships, and there’s not going to be no constitution, so we are not going to be an organisation which is bound by rules.”

Some concerns, however, were raised at the meeting: Will Maleny Forums have genuine clout with the authorities if it doesn’t have a formal membership? Who will decide what issues will be pursued? Without a constitution and formal memberships, will there be indemnity insurance concerns? And how will any lobbying be funded?

In response, the “committee” said the aim was to ensure relevant influencers, local elected leaders and organisations (such as Sunshine Coast Council) were included in discussions; it is likely that a vote of some sort would be held at meetings to gauge what issues will progress and how they will progress; the forums would be promoted by a fluid team of volunteers through local social media pages, email, media stories, word of mouth, and even leaflets posted on local noticeboards; other management issues for the groups would still need further investigation.

“There will need to be a commitment from a coordinating group that we look to the issues that people look to, there might be a little lag time before we start discussing some of those issues, so, in fact, we can do that influencing, whatever it might be, properly,” Ms Booth said.

“As we get better at this – and I suppose we have to be honest with ourselves, and accept that it is not going to be perfect from the beginning - that we will hone these skills and hone how the group works together and how we can work on that decision making, or consensus, or agreement, better.”

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