It was enough that democracy allowed us to vote for our local representatives, whether that be for the local council or the state and federal members of parliament.
We were then supposed to suck up whatever was delivered in our direction. And probably be grateful for it.
Participatory democracy, whereby citizens take part individually and directly in political decisions, is not a new idea, but in this century we have certainly put a different spin on it.
The Occupy movement that expressed opposition to social and economic equality and a perceived lack of ‘real democracy’ between 2011 and 2016, all over the world — including Australia — is a classic example.
So why is it of interest to a local radio host, whose on-air horizons usually don’t extend beyond the Greater Shepparton, Strathbogie, Campaspe and Moira local government areas?
Recently I interviewed Belinda Conna, Greater Shepparton City Council’s team leader — healthy communities, about a neat little program that’s currently open for comment called Kids Co-designing Healthy Spaces.
Local children are being asked what they think about their neighbourhoods.
What things have an effect on their ability to live happily and healthily and be connected?
This isn’t some fancy Welsford St whim to engage the young’uns so they can’t complain they don’t have a voice.
It’s a fair dinkum academic initiative backed up by the Faculty of Education at Monash University and VicHealth.
When you think about our neighbourhoods — the streets, parks, playgrounds, sports grounds, libraries and shopping areas — they are quite possibly populated by more children and young people than adults.
But, of course, it’s the adults who make all the decisions about how they’re designed, long after many of them have kicked a soccer ball on the pitch or slipped down the playground slide.
Quite possibly those adults are designing places that suited them as a child. And we all know it’s a very different world now to what it was 30 or 40 years ago.
And this is where the project gets a bit cute. Belinda tells me staff have been visiting childcare centres and schools, and one suggestion was free fairy floss while another less outlandish proposal was for a roller-skating rink.
That latter idea caused a flurry on the radio station phone lines, as listeners were keen to remind everyone about the old Skatewave Roller Rink that existed in Shepparton in the 1970s and ’80s.
Did you know Skatewave even had its own female skating Rola Rockettes team? Presumably Skatewave gave way to other pursuits as time went on, video games being an obvious replacement.
But just because not enough people wanted to roll around in the 1990s doesn’t mean it might not make a comeback now. What goes around comes around, pun intended.
That’s just one example of an idea the kids have put forward that possibly wouldn’t have come from the town planners.
Other responses might be less tangible, such as kids not feeling safe in certain environments and a lack of access to recreational spaces.
Young people aged 12 to 25 are urged to participate, and that can be in many forms, including written or multimedia. There’s also an audit of the local area that kids can fill out.
One other spin-off of such a project might be igniting a spark for participating in our local democracy among our young people.
It’s not exactly the Occupy movement, but it may prevent one. Now that would be worth the price of a roller-skating rink. Or at least some fairy floss.
To contribute, go to https://shaping.greatershepparton.com.au/
Terri Cowley is the breakfast presenter on One FM 98.5
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