Dr Clare Allen Port Macquarie-Hastings CEO: ‘Big-picture’ thinking key to tackling population growth
Every one of Port Macquarie’s 86,000 people will have their voice heard under Clare Allen’s new leadership style that will focus heavily on people, priorities and problem solving.
Mid-North Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Mid-North Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Thousands of kilometres away on the west coast of the country in Mandurah, WA, Dr Clare Allen built a business up from the ground in a town roughly the same size as Port Macquarie.
Community First International was a not-for-profit charity that went from a client base of 2000 to 12000 people in a matter of weeks, outgrowing its success because it could no longer sustain a national businesses model in a regional location.
Inadequate infrastructure, poor fibre-optic cabling and a lack of suitable, high-speed internet meant the company had to abandon its regional head office and expand into the city.
“We had to move out because the optic fibre wasn’t there, and the connections weren't going to be good enough to manage our services,” the new Port Macquarie-Hastings Council CEO, said.
“I was really upset about that because I wanted to build that business in the community that it had been established in … and that’s what we need to see here in Port Macquarie.”
“But, these [technology issues] I’m already seeing at places like Thrumster, where I am renting, that have inadequate access to proper internet.
“If people are saying they can’t get the internet over the hill, but in town they can — and these are the new growth suburbs we’re we are expanding too — then this needs to be addressed.”
Dr Allen is a self-declared “visionary”. While she doesn’t claim to know everything about local government, she says she doesn’t need too.
Her job is to be accountable to the community, have the right access to the right people and find the best routes to achieve the most successful outcomes.
“The way that I work is very incremental, I see big picture, but work towards that big picture — I’m a visionary,” she said.
“I am not the type of person that will sit in an Ivory tower and just make decisions.
“I want to engage with the experts and the community, I want to talk to the business community about innovation, how we can create a co-design model of thinking for long-term sustainability, so that it’s not just Clare Allen or somebody elses opinion, but it’s decisions we make based on real engagement with real people who know what they’re talking about.”
“Quite often we [council] might not have the solution to the problem, but someone will.”
Going back to her job at Community First International, she said: ‘We were one of the largest employment providers in the sector.”
“It grew massively and that community's population at the time was 80,000 and we’re [Port Macquarie] at about that, so, we are going to have these teething problems when it comes to population growth, but my job is about taking a step back and thinking about what this is going to look like down the track.
“Is this [population growth] just a flash in the pan moment whereby people are buying up and creating a housing affordability crises because of COVID, or is it here to stay? If you ask me, I have a feeling that it’s probably here to stay.”
She says she is realistic about Council’s role and its responsibility in the community, but when it comes to investment in hew housing, large roads and people, a lot of that will need to come from the top two tiers of government.
“We talk about the future, and it’s good to have a horizon, but there’s a ‘horizon one’ which is the here and now, there’s the contingency, so ‘if I do this - I’ll need to do that’ as well, and then there’s the ‘future planning.’
“All of thee aspects have to link. My plan is to create the linkages, so that it can catapult us forward for the next 50 years.
“My viewpoint is ‘OK, people are moving out of the cities, but how much more are you [state and federal governments] going to fund us for our population growth?’
“I want to work with regional cities, regional local governments and be vocal about our state and federal counterparts coming to the party.
“Because if we’re just going to roll over so to speak then that’s going to cause tension points everywhere.
With Dr Allen’s appointment comes an internal council governance review, which will require her to look into all aspects of the business and its operations.
“To say that I won’t make changes will be naive,” she said.
“Great governance and great strategy equals great operations, but you can’t achieve great operations unless your governance is right - so I’ll be really investing in the governance of the business.
“I need to make sure everything internally is running to the standard that I’m expecting it too.
“I’ll be asking [the elected] council at some point to adopt the Australian Business Excellence Framework, and I’ll be working with customer service, procurement, governance and HR.
She says her approach to building good relationships in the community will be key to the success of Port’s future.
“I want to humanise local government and gauge the pulse of the community.
“Finding out, what are the prioritises? I might only hear the noise of 10 per cent of the community’s priorities, but if I personally took a pulse, what would they say? My job is to make sure I represent all of our ratepayers and really understand what the key issues are.”
Fisho’s ‘dog s**t’ tirade in undercover boat ramp sting
A fisherman’s catch of the day turned into a court appearance after he lashed out at an undercover compliance officer, calling him a “piece of dog s--t” at a Mid-North Coast boat ramp.
Watch: Cops converge on Coffs for three-day crime blitz
A massive police operation in Coffs Harbour aimed at curbing crime in the region has resulted in several arrests, charges and guns and illegal tobacco seized.