I attended Futures CQ on Friday morning, not sure what to expect but hopeful that it would be more than a talkfest. We got told the stats, told Rockhampton’s population is going to grow, albeit slowly, told of the major projects that are in the pipeline, told we need to take more pride in being a Central Queenslander and Rockhamptonite, told how important agriculture is to our economy, told that our youth are leaving the region, told about opportunities in China being explored, told that Central Queensland is being forgotten as the states divide into just south (south east corner) and north, and told how CQUniversity is aiming to not produce students for jobs but to be job creators.
All interesting stuff but only once was the audience invited to be part of the journey or advised how they could be involved. We got told we need to support local businesses, but no call to organise a shop local campaign. Nor was there a call to organise a ‘Love You CQ/Rockhampton’ photo competition to boost civic pride for example. Though there was the call for each of us to recognise we are salespeople and to positively sell our region.
Basically, though it seemed the theme was leave it with us (Council, University, Development Bodies), we’ll get things happening and the Morning Bulletin will keep us informed.
Arguably, had a passionate call gone out to get any of the 100 odd attending actively involved in a major project it may have been met with silence anyway. Ring-roads, weirs, defence bases, levee banks, and art galleries do involve and require a lot of government interaction, thus frustrating for most volunteers to keep investing their time into and unsure the impact of it, so leave it to those paid to do so.
But had a 100 people just turned up to hear probably not much more than they already knew? Or were they hoping for something more? Maybe learning something new, to leave feeling more confident about the (handling of) region, inspiration, Bernard Salt’s tips on smashing avocado! We did learn that the lemons we ate in February came from Egypt (when they once came from Byfield), the succession movement is still alive and backpackers aren’t that fussed on Bundaberg Rum (but that may be because they have to get up early to get to Cairns the next day).
Did anyone attending get wrapped in the vision that was painted for the region? Was a serious vision even painted of what Rockhampton/Central Queensland could be, other than the brush strokes to re-establish Rockhampton as the Capital of CQ? (How/Did we lose the title, what does it really mean/involve anyway – exploring this could have been interesting to the audience?) Did any of the talk address where we want to go as a community? Did we leave with a sense of connection to what had been talked about over the last 2 hours?
Hearing first hand from our community leaders about our region’s future is good, including industry power brokers from mining, agriculture and health would enhance it. Presenting a vision, a 20-year plan, that we are all invited to invest in, and outlining the steps we can start taking now to help get there, that would be potent.
The steps may appear small in the scheme of the big picture but at least the community can feel the journey has started, and they are part of it, as opposed to left waiting, disconnected, for that one big step (funding is actually received) to happen, if ever.
We may not finish with the big picture we started out towards but with each step we take together the more our living standards improve and vibrant our community becomes. That’s the objective, isn’t it?