SUBMISSION: A CASE FOR CHANGE AND FOR PARTICIPATORY PLANNING
Prof. Veena Sahajwalla tells the world that "The truth is, there's no such thing as waste. What do you see when you look at this – rubbish, something familiar, unwanted, disgusting even? You might see waste, but what I see are opportunities, ones that are not to be missed.”
Prof. Veena Sahajwalla is calling for Australians to reimagine waste as a valuable resource that can drive manufacturing, create jobs and support sustainability.
At the National Press Club in Canberra, Prof. Sahajwalla called on policymakers, industry and communities to embrace a new vision for Australia’s waste.... OR might she have actually meant, Australia's available resources [LINK – 21 October 2025] If we are looking for a 21st C model Prof. Veena Sahajwalla seems to fill that role in an exemplary way.
When he was President of the USA Ronald Reagan told whoever were listening at the time that ... "the status quo you know is Latin for the mess we are in." He was on the money at the time and as we look around us, that is "us" being 20th C people, while we might not have been the people who initiated the mess we are currently the curators of. Humanity has done precious little to mitigate the circumstances within which the planet has been diminished and is being degraded.
While risk adverse functionaries, self-nominated "representatives" and those who believe that some miracle worker ‘out there somewhere’ who will save humanity from itself and/or who will not change signs on gates. Sadly, it seems that they/we may yet make the planet ready for a better equipped, and better class of life form than us – insects perhaps.
In order to be seen to be doing 'something' governments – local, region & national – of all persuasions put agencies in place ostensively to demonstrate, rather than explain, and to deal with environmental 'matters'- ie environmental protection agencies. It turns out to be a somewhat cynical exercise. All too often these agencies exist, strategically, to maintain the status quo and everything that is invested in it. In particular, an economy that is driven by ‘fiscal investment’ and ‘market forces’.
Whatever, humans are incapable of miracles, but humanity can create the circumstances within which miracles can reveal themselves. We may yet have grandchildren with grandchildren.
To plan to maintain WASTEmanagement Centres is, arguably, socially and culturally repugnant – delinquent indeed. However, should such 'places' change the sign on the gate to RESOURCErecovery Centre that would flag a welcomed MINDset change.
Albeit that the functionaries and administrators required to order the signage and give effect to change will provide a long list of reasons not to change. That is reasoning like the stationary needing to be changed etc. Risk adverse as they are, typically there will be a CONGAline concerned functionaries finding an ever increasing bunch of reasons not to do anything, or change anything all that significant – let alone a sign on the gate or house those that society has fiscally abandoned.
In 2009, The (Sydney) Magazine listed Michael Mobbs, as one of Sydney's 100 most influential people. He 'disconnected' his inner-city terrace house from the grid and city water supply. He set out in 1996 to renovate his inner-city Sydney terrace and make it almost entirely self-sufficient in terms of energy, water and waste disposal. It was a journey few other Australians had attempted but he has shown it can be achieved and that it's possible for almost anyone.
Albeit that the functionaries and administrators required to order the signage and give effect to change will provide a long list of reasons not to change. That is reasoning like the stationary needing to be changed etc. Risk adverse as they are, typically there will be a CONGAline concerned functionaries finding an ever increasing bunch of reasons not to do anything, or change anything all that significant – let alone a sign on the gate or house those that society has fiscally abandoned.
In 2009, The (Sydney) Magazine listed Michael Mobbs, as one of Sydney's 100 most influential people. He 'disconnected' his inner-city terrace house from the grid and city water supply. He set out in 1996 to renovate his inner-city Sydney terrace and make it almost entirely self-sufficient in terms of energy, water and waste disposal. It was a journey few other Australians had attempted but he has shown it can be achieved and that it's possible for almost anyone.
Nonetheless Mobbs has encountered relentless resistance to his notion of living 'sustainably'. In large part this resistance has come from THEauthorities and in no small way this caused him to coin the term "premeditated ignorance". [LINK Sustainable House]
In order to be seen to be 'something' governments – local, region & national – of all persuasions put agencies in place ostensively to demonstrate, rather than explain, to deal with environmental 'matters'- ie environmental protection agencies. It turns out to be a somewhat cynical exercise. All too often these agencies exist, strategically, to maintain the status quo and everything that is invested in it.
Whatever, humans are incapable of miracles, but humanity can create the circumstances within which miracles can reveal themselves. We may yet have grandchildren with grandchildren. One way is to cooperate and collaborate in order to put to work all the expertise available locally and in real time.
Citizen’s Assemblies cum Juries cum Participatory Planning [ 1 - 2] processes have delivered productive outcomes. However, the administrative wing of Representational Democracy, on the available evidence, is antithetic to such initiatives and seemingly on the grounds that they invoke unwelcome accountability, challenge/disrupt the status quo and threaten power base’s authority. That is particularly evident in Tasmania.
Possibly a precursor to Participatory Planning took place in Kerala in the 1990s. Even political organisations with the best of intentions and honesty believe in 'doing good' to the deprived in accordance with their perceptions, subconsciously shunning community empowerment for fear of losing influence. In Kerala, such groups were cited for their preferring to depend on their elected candidates bound by party discipline to follow their dictates. The only viable alternative is to pursue a protracted rural campaign of various interlinked facets. This should encompass literacy, health, land literacy and participatory planning and development. Such an effort is certain to generate confidence, articulation and the capacity of the people to press for their rightful dues. [Links 1 - 2 - 3 - 4]
In Kerala, the emerging democratic awareness and power of the rural electorate boosted the process of empowerment and self-reliance substantially. And that not to mention Kerala’s extraordinarily high literacy levels is important. Kerala's history is marked by a major land reform movement, leading to its high literacy rates and influencing land use patterns. Historically, agriculture, particularly the pepper trade, shaped the economy and landscape. Today, while agriculture remains the dominant land use, there is a trend of land use intensification due to urbanization and infrastructure, alongside an unexpected increase in land fallowing driven by economic factors. Interestingly Kerala achieved full literacy in 1991 – a significant achievement in India.
Authoritative TOPdown hierarchical planning typically turns out to be less than adequate because:
• … Firstly, ALL the appropriate expertise is not brought to bear ;and
• … Secondly, it can only be as informed as its weakest component can stand.
While the process can be reignited once it fails, there is a limit to how many times that is possible–[ LINK].
Effective Participatory Planning is rhizomatic or put another way, it engages with networks of multifarious networks to access ALL the available expertise in a COI – Community of Ownership and Interest … LINK. Essentially, the ‘governed’ are engaged with their ‘governance’ in a fundamental and inclusive way.
On the available evidence in Tasmania, authoritative TOPdown hierarchical planning – at all levels– is failing to meet community expectations and aspirations to wit the diabolical and dystopia fiscal circumstance the TT line finds itself in; the contentious stadium debacle; the housing of those being denied access to affordable houses, etc. etc.
If strategic planning ‘planning’ is about effective and appropriate land use, then the case for Participatory Planning is compelling. The alternative of the status quo is so unpromising on the available evidence so as to totally discount it given the litany planning failures it has delivered and continues to deliver to Tasmanian communities seeking to celebrate their ‘placedness’
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