As a relatively new Tasmanian, I am struck by how passionate people are about their lives here and building a positive future for generations to come, but also how powerless they feel to progress and change our state to achieve that future.
I have lived and worked in many other parts of the world, but nowhere have I seen such an exceptional set of attributes as Greater Hobart has – our natural environment, our position surrounded by waterways, beaches and mountains, our creative industries, and, above all, our amazing community of people.
We could be the best small city in the world, and yet there is no shared vision for Greater Hobart, and many of its people are bogged down in the past and what ‘has’ or ‘hasn’t’ happened due to an inability to form an aligned view on what our future should be for the benefit of the entire community.
What I have noticed since moving here 5 years ago is we have lowered our expectations – of ourselves and of our governments – and have resigned ourselves to the status quo because we don’t have the power to change, progress, and move forward.
That’s where I believe the Committee for Greater Hobart can bring people together to facilitate a conversation and empower the community to come up with a solution. But the ‘how’ is the tricky part – we need to bring everyone along on the journey and have an open, shared conversation about what we want the future of Greater Hobart to be.
I have noticed that any bold vision results in a debate in two camps – ‘yes’ and ‘no’. While I’m sure there is a large percentage of Greater Hobart residents who have convictions that lie somewhere in between, there is no platform for moderated conversation to try to find a solution.
And so we end up where we are now – at a crossroads where without a cohesive plan to move Greater Hobart forward, we risk being left behind.
As part of the Committee’s foundational research we commissioned an independent Visions Scan, looking at what future-focused plans and visions were already in place for Greater Hobart, the commonalities and differences between them; how they are being actioned and tracked, and whether those who initiated them are accountable.
We found that currently the Greater Hobart region has a number of future-focused plans and visions that support significant long-term social, environmental and economic investments, but they have too often been developed in silos with limited community engagement.
They are currently lacking a common purpose, and would benefit from:
We are using these learnings to bring about broader community engagement and to enable us to work towards the creation of a more accessible, clear and supported Greater Hobart vision.
At RACT we are proud members of the Tasmanian community for generations, having just celebrated our 100th year.
As a member organisation were are owned by the people of Tasmania, and our people have a genuine feeling of privilege to be helping to make the world a better place for our members and all Tasmanians.
We are the voice for mobility in Tasmania, but that is just part of the picture. Mobility connects communities, homes, schools, places of social engagement and places of work – linking to housing, culture, the economy, health and the environment. None of these can be considered in isolation.
This is why we at RACT believe it is important to be a member of the Committee for Greater Hobart. The apolitical, independent nature of the Committee means we can bring the community together, provide experts and research from all over the world in tackling the issues we currently face, and facilitate robust conversation to build a vision for the future Greater Hobart we can all see ourselves living in.
If you are interested in joining us to work out the solutions, enquire about membership today.
