UTAS on the agenda for first Hobart City Council meeting
An elector poll showed 74 per cent of Hobart City voters did not support the UTAS move, but where to from here? One of the council’s newest elected members wants to take the next step.
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One of Hobart City Council’s newest elected members will bring on a motion about the University of Tasmania campus move, after an elector poll showed the majority of voters were against it.
At the first meeting of the term on the 21st of November, new councillor Louise Elliot will move that the council begin comprehensive public consultation process, asking the community to share its view on the move from Sandy Bay to the Hobart CBD.
The motion comes after an elector poll was held at the same time as local government elections, with 74.38 per cent of Hobart City voters saying the did not support the move.
“We clearly know now the vast majority of voters are not supportive of the UTAS move,” Ms Elliot said.
“We only have a number … we need to understand why the community feels that way.”
The consultation process would focus on matters the council could influence, including the impact of the move on the CBD, parking and traffic.
“The council over all of the years have never asked the community its views on this,” Ms Elliot said.
“I want to hear from the community what their thoughts on things can council can shape or influence, what their views are on the impact on the city and on what’s proposed … We don’t have that information in a formal capacity.
“It absolutely was a mistake for that not to be asked early on, but better late than never.
“The council asks the community its views on much lesser things.”
Ms Elliot said the information would help the council make decision on matters it had control over relating to the move.
“I acknowledge completely the council can’t stop UTAS move, but what we can do is minimise any damage,” she said.
The motion also seeks an explanation for a possible change of wording relating to the Hobart City Deal.
Ms Elliot believes a commitment in the Hobart City Deal supporting a STEM presence in Hobart’s CBD was changed to supporting the move in its entirety.
“I want to understand how and why that shift occurred and I think the community deserves that explanation too,” Ms Elliot said.
UTAS city move not just a matter of ‘yes or no’
The University of Tasmania’s controversial move from Sandy Bay to the city was “more complex than saying yes or no”, Vice-Chancellor Professor Rufus Black says.
UTAS held the final face-to-face session of an almost 80-member Shake Up community panel in Hobart on Saturday with the facilitator saying it had gone well but there was still much more work to be done.
Prof Black said the Shake-Up panel had made an important contribution to “making sure our existing city presence is the best version we can make it”.
“With 40 per cent of southern staff and students already in the city, and approved projects underway, the evolution of our presence in Hobart is more complex than saying yes or no,” he said.
“As we work with the Hobart City Council on the way forward, The Shake Up will provide valuable community input to inform that process.
“The Council have requested we ensure that we have just this sort of community input.”
Facilitator Nicole Halsey said the community process had been “going really well overall”.
She said some people had dropped out and there had been “some very robust but respectful discussions”.
“It’s been a success, but it’s only one step in a bigger journey,” Ms Halsey said.
“I think anyone who’s been involved with it, including the committee panel members, would acknowledge that there’s a lot more work to be done.”
“It has provided a forum where people can talk in a lot of detail about how to make the move a good one, and what that looks like to them and what the important issues are for them.”
Panel participant and PhD student Megan Tighe said she was surprised by the strength of the no vote in the recent Hobart ratepayer poll where 75 per cent opposed the move.
“There’s a lot of vocal opposition, but I had thought that that would be smaller,” she said.
“I put some of it down to just people when they don’t feel that they have the full facts often will say no to change, because when you’re given something as black and white as a poll, it’s really hard to say ‘yes, I want that to happen’ without knowing what it is’.”
Ms Tighe believes there are opportunities to be gained from having the university in the city and said the panel process was important to provide a better outcome for Tasmanians.
“It has been sometimes frustrating, sometimes limited, but I think it’s probably a good model for UTAS going forward for engaging with the community, doing it in depth, and giving people from all different backgrounds the resources to engage more actively.”
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Originally published as UTAS on the agenda for first Hobart City Council meeting
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