Today or tomorrow?

As I speak with residents ahead of the April 2027 Council election, two competing views continue to arise. The first is that Council should focus on the here and now: “rates, roads and rubbish”. The second is that we need to look much further ahead and prepare Victor Harbor for a population that could double over the next 25 years. 

But do we really have to choose between the two?

My view is we need a Council administration, Mayor and elected members who are capable of doing both. Yes, we need to manage rates responsibly while delivering the basics of roads, rubbish and infrastructure. But we also need those same people thinking seriously about the future and ensuring our City is prepared for a growing and changing population.

The question, then, is how do we do both? How do we navigate these two seemingly opposite perspectives? 

I would argue that we need to get the basics right today, while preparing Victor Harbor properly for tomorrow.

We need to adopt tight fiscal discipline, with an exhaustive focus on productivity and efficiency, while delivering the basics the City needs now. Further, we need to ensure population growth strengthens the CIty’s finances and contributes to the infrastructure and services required for our growing population. Planning for the future cannot simply be “let’s see what happens”. We need a 25-year infrastructure plan, and Council needs to be closely involved in housing development, business growth, and State and Federal government plans for our region.

To put it simply, responsible growth requires excellent Council management, and excellent Council management requires planning for growth before it arrives. To paraphrase something often said in my old banking profession: ‘we need a Council that thinks 25 years ahead, but manages every dollar as though it were its own’.

Peter Hanlon, Victor Harbor