JUNGLE DRUM: Dig the disruption

LAWRENCE MASON COLUMN

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Outgoing politician Warren Entsch was a potential "disruptor" says Lawrence Mason. Picture: Shaun Hollis

I have never been a Trump fan. The little bit I did see of him on TV didn't really endear me to him.

And when he stood for President, although I saw him as better then the alternative, my views were that it was a choice between two bad eggs. The thoughts lingering in my mind are that he is a cad, and probably in it to increase his own wealth.

That said, we need a few "Trumps" in Australia. I have come to realise that Trump is what modern parlance calls a "disruptor".

Not all disruption is good, but we as a society need to challenge the way we do things. Maybe not his way, but disruption is essential or we will literally grind to a halt as we wade our way through pernicious process, procedure and permits.

Getting anything done is already so slow I at times wonder if I will live long enough to see much-needed new bridges built!

Over time, we fall into bad habits. On a personal level that can be smoking, drinking, hoarding or drugs. My personal favourite is eating too much! To end, or at least control, these habits, people need to make major change; to DISRUPT their life. I will never forget seeing a heavy smoker stop in a day when the doc told him he had throat cancer. That sure disrupted him enough to make him change, and thankfully today he is still alive.

But not all disruptors do well. Even Trump, while presently controlling much of the dialogue, will discover that it is not all beer and skittles. As an example, I am quite sure USAID had more than a few problems.

But is throwing the baby out with the bathwater the way to go? He threw the tub out too! I am sure that as well as nonsensical waste that has been published, USAID does some good.

Let's not forget what happened to the wannabe disruptor Campbell Newman. Disrupt too much and too often and you get flogged back into line (or in his case punted hard).

Our lovely democratic system has fallen into bad habits. Some of those habits have formed through a genuine desire to reduce corruption or environmental damage.

Others are simply the bureaucratic way. Bureaucrats love to add more supervisors, reports and data collection. Not to mention permit systems and rules. Bureaucracy is also unholistic - they will arrange for more resources to a shire after a disaster, much delayed of course, but not think to arrange for funding to the agencies required to allow works via permit.

I could go into hundreds of examples of glacial slowness through numerous agencies but this time is more about how to fix it than what is wrong.

We love to blame the pollies and of course they are the one we can re-elect if we want to. But the reality is that much of what pollies say will happen does not because the bureaucrats can choose to go slow, or create reasons not to do anything at all. So the role of a disruptor is complicated. How do you re-energise and make bureaucracy more efficient and survive the next election?

I once asked a person I considered to be a very successful school principal how he got his teachers to make the extra effort that I observed at his school. His answer was "I make it about the kids, not them or me".

I guess translating that to our problems, we would need a successful disruptor to be able to make it about the good of the people, the citizens, and motivate the civil service. Make it holistic. And change the process, streamline, bring back trust, and reward speed and efficiency.

The other essential act would be to order an end to all publicity from politicians and bureaucrats alike. Both are very adept at spending our money to promote themselves. The savings could be used to provide plain-language information on a website dedicated to that purpose.

Sadly I look at our current and future potential politicians and I don't see any disruptors.

Except maybe Cairns Mayor Amy Eden who is already on notice. Or federal MP Warren Entsch, who is retiring. There is little-to-no interest in analysis to see where we went wrong. Most pollies are housetrained perfectly by the system. The only ones that seemingly aren't housetrained currently are barking mad and therefore useless.

There are no disruptors in Douglas. Everyone is housetrained to use the current system. The one that does not work. It's time for some Amy Eden cojones.

How much more of this go slow money wasting nonsense will Australians everywhere tolerate before we go for our own version of Trump? Would it not be better to tackle known issues now than wait for a madman? For me, that's a big "yes". Strategic change is always going to go better than reactive warfare.

*Lawrence Mason has lived at Cape Tribulation all his life, and has been involved in farming, timber and tourism. He is a former board member of Tourism Port Douglas Daintree, founding Chair of Daintree Marketing Co-operative, and has been a member of both Alexandra Bay and Mossman State High School P&C. He is also a member of the Douglas Chamber of Commerce and has a keen interest in local issues.

  • The opinions and views in this column are those of the author and author only and do not reflect the Newsport editor or staff.