KCP - Catholic Diocese of Broome

I was heartened to recently be invited along with a number of people in Broome to a meeting with the newly appointed CEO to make some contribution to the Strategic Plan for the Shire. This was one of those rare times when one feels involved in the local community and that one's opinion is valued.
There were around forty other people who had responded to the invitation and we were sitting in various self-selected table grouping to work through the issues. We were led by a facilitator to ensure that things ran in an orderly fashion and that the expectations that the Shire had for the gathering were achieved. There was great enthusiasm for the exercise and people were really interested in listening to each other and pooling ideas and dreams for the future of the Shire, especially the town site.
The thing that surprised me about the responses of the various tables was the strong interest in protection of the natural environment and the provision of services that would enhance the lifestyle that Broome has become famous for and that has attracted so many people to come and make it their home. While recognizing the central place of tourism and its importance to the viability of Broome and the Kimberley generally, people were concerned about the preservation of family values, the education, training and employment of local people and the involvement of Indigenous people in town and in outlying communities in the planning process.
These people were not hand-picked and as such I would guess were a reasonable cross-section of the community. Perhaps they were a cross section of that part of the community who would be available and willing to give up an evening to attend such a forum. In that context, perhaps this was an unusual group. Nevertheless, I was heartened by the experience.
The things that gave me encouragement were the number of people willing to turn out and the basic social justice values often espoused in this column that were expressed by people in the course of the evening. There was to be another group gathering on the following evening. I hope those people had the same positive experience. Good things can happen when good people get together to share their deepest dreams about what they are leaving behind for their children and those to come after them.
If there is an opportunity for other Shires in the Kimberley to run similar events, I would encourage them to do so. I would also encourage residents to seek opportunities for this sort of participation. It is a right and a duty in our democratic society to be part of what happens in our towns and communities. Participation does not finish at the ballot box - that is where it starts.