I have recently had the fantastic opportunity to visit the Canadian Arctic. Travelling is always a great opportunity to learn new things and you always come away with an even greater appreciation of just how lucky we are to live here in the City of Mitcham.
One of the stops that I made on the trip was to a place called Cambridge Bay, located on Victoria Island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, Canada. Cambridge Bay is home to the Canadian High Arctic Research Station (CHARS), which is a $250 million dollar investment by the Canadian Government for arctic science. The entire centre costs over $25 million a year to operate and also incorporates a significant educational program for local kids.
There were three potential locations for CHARS to be built. With Cambridge Bay only having a population of around 1,800 people, how did it manage to attract such a substantial investment from the Canadian Government? Jeannie Ehaloak, who helps manage the facility, explained that the local Council and town had come together to create a very effective lobbying operation to convince the government that their town was the right place.
The role of Council lobbying State / Federal Government for projects is not something that gets a lot of attention. This is potentially because our status as a marginal seat at both a State and Federal level is relatively new. Like the town of Cambridge Bay, we have a unique opportunity to lobby for key strategic projects from the other levels of Government who have much deeper pockets. Mitcham Council has taken learnings from the past two election cycles to refine the process this year for putting together a list of Election Priority Projects for across the city. Locally this ‘Wishlist’ includes items such as detailed designs for upgrading Grevillea Way and funding for implementation of the Blackwood Movement Strategy and Main Road Enhancement Project.
Areas for lobbying include the upgrade of the Laffers and Main Roads intersection, along with the current Kiss n Drop area of Belair Primary School.
Tiwu Kumangka, the new Blackwood Library and Community Centre is a prime example of what can be achieved through this process and would not have been possible without the financial support of the State / Federal Government.
This influx of funding has created several interesting problems for Council. Often financial contributions from the other levels of government require a co-contribution. In this regard, our Long-Term Financial Plan has allocated some $9 million of potential new borrowings to support any projects. Importantly and something I have been pushing for since being elected, Council has adjusted the financial expectations of each listed project so that we hopefully have less of a funding shortfall than we have on previous projects such as Mortlock Park.
If you do see a local candidate out and about, make sure to talk to them about some of the projects on this list!
You can view the Election Priority Projects here: https://www.mitchamcouncil.sa.gov.au/Our-city-and-council/Policies,-plans-and-reports/election-priority-projects