Ben Smith @ Ballina

Hi All,

Well, technically I’m now 3 days into the job as a councillor.

I’ve just spent my time this weekend rotating between the process of partying, sleeping, researching and reading up on various council documents, a diverse lifestyle.

Friday afternoon I went into council chambers for the first time as a councillor, which was a unique feeling, you’re walking straight into a pre-established, somewhat large operation, as a key decision maker straight off the bat.

There’s no corporate ladder to climb, no small business to build, it’s just all there right in front of you.

I can see how people’s egos can build up in this kind of arena so quickly, one day there’s just an average joe blow, doing their 9-5 job, the next, they walk into one of the most important buildings in the shire, greeted as the new “bosses” of the place and are told they have to now make decisions that will impact on the lives of 40,000 people.

This is the biggest challenge that I’ve come to terms with over the last few days.  It’s not about the decisions themselves, look at any given ordinary council meeting and you’ll find 70-80% of the time councillors agree on the decisions, it’s about the challenge of not letting the system destroy your identity, who you are as a person.

The arena of politics and specifically government itself is full of a lot of obstacles, a lot of viewpoints, a lot of stakeholders, a lot of flaws, laws, framework etc.  It’s a minefield, and it’s very easy to avoid the field all together then make your way through it.

As a new councillor, or even an existing one at that, you’ve got these obstacles thrown at you every day of your term and it’s very easy to react to them, in a moment of fear or doubt, avoid them, dodge them or do whatever you have to do to play the “game” of politics.

But ultimately, by doing so, it’ll destroy your sense of self, your true self.

You may come out of it a good politician, but a good politician and a good person isn’t necessarily the same thing.

It’s a real internal conflict for me, and many times I sometimes ask myself if I should really be in politics at all, I know there’s a lot in regards to leadership and strategic management that I’ll learn in this new environment, but I’m concerned that there’s other things in this environment that I really would rather not to learn.

The other thing I’m concerned about, being in such a serious environment, is that I’ll lose my ability to have fun, which is absolutely crucial to a good life regardless of age in my opinion.

So with that said I’ve learnt it’s important to stay true to yourself, to not let any new environment, whether it be council or anything else in life for that matter, overwhelm and control you, but even more so, you can’t be afraid.

You need to know that deep down you are enough, that everything you’ll ever need to have a great life and to make good decisions is already inside of you.  The external world tells us otherwise, it’ll tell you, you need to buy this, learn this or do this to be “enough”, you need this house or this car to be “enough”, but the reality is that that’s all essentially bs.

There’s an old Chinese saying “If you cannot find it within yourself, where will you go for it?”.

Everything comes from within.

I’m ready for council, I’m ready for my first chamber meeting this Thursday and I’m looking forward to being myself and putting my best foot forward.

Ben
(Cr Smith) 

Well after several days of what it looked like to be Phil Silver being re-elected as Mayor, it’s turns out…Phil Silver has been elected as Mayor.

Which means that the 3 remaining councillors in C ward are automatically elected, including Myself. 

My result on it’s own disregarding the Mayoral vote, in my opinion was good considering I didn’t occupy all of the booths with volunteers on the day or at pre-poll, had I have done that, I imagine my vote would have increased quite proportionally.

I need to thank all of the members of the community, approx 13%ish that did give me your number one vote, I’ve got a number of things planned that will further democracy and empower the community, in addition to this, I feel that there are a number of issues where a simple, honest, non-political viewpoint would be extremely beneficial and I’ll be offering just that.

I need to also thank ALL of the support I’ve had from every stakeholder and many current Councillors within the shire.  The members of CAN, including Jane Garnier and Marilyn Perkins who have all been extremely supportive, a big thank you to John Felsch and his team of volunteers who actively supported me, a big thank you to to Sharon Cadwallader for her active support and importantly, a big thank you to Allan Rich who has been extremely supportive over the last 12 months.

Everyone who has supported me so far, I am extremely grateful and I look forward to working with you all in the coming years.

Moving Along.

 In politics, the most important thing is to stay true to yourself, soooo many people who had potential or might have been nice people to start out with have came out arseholes who refuse to listen in the end.  They forget who they are and what they stand for, they forget what they’re all about, where they came from, and what it’s like in the real world on a day to day basis.   

 I promise you that I will stay true to myself. 

 My life mantra is “Follow those who seek the truth and run from those who have claimed to have found it.” 

My promise is to maintain this, my promise is to maintain an open viewpoint at all times, I’ll always be seeking new ideas, new information new feedback to make the best decisions possible, I’ll never assume that I have the best idea or I know what’s best, I’ll always be open to discuss, debate and consider anyone and everyones point of view. 

I believe that every single person on this planet has something great to contribute and I hope to empower members of our community to bring that out of themselves and offer it.

My message is all about positivity and I’m excited about what I feel can be achieved when you throw a guy like me into the council dynamic. I’m looking forward to being part of a new council team.  I’m looking forward to dealing with the challenges that lie ahead but most importantly, I’m really looking forward to working with everyone, all members of the community, all the stakeholders and all the councillors because I know that when we all work together as a team we can achieve miracles.

Ben.