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Building social capital

Social commentator and former Mayor of St Kilda, the Reverend Tim Costello, was a keynote speaker at the WA Local Government Association’s Annual Conference. Speaking on the topic ‘Social Capital’, he said the greatest issue facing most communities is the problem of commitment.

“People with civic values who put in the unpaid, honorary hours, the teachers and the mentors, are disappearing,” Tim Costello said. “This is placing an increasing burden on older people who still hold these values. There is a fragmentation of community and a need to restore faith in public life.”

He said social capital is all about conversation, trust and doing things together. Instead, there has been a massive decline in meeting in social groups, and an increase in family fragmentation brought on by a faster lifestyle, longer work hours and so forth.

“The ‘wealth will bring happiness’ story is strong but happiness is much more to do with relationships that build values such as honesty, integrity and trust,” Tim Costello said. “We have become competing individuals believing that ‘what is good for me is good for the community’.

“Economic nationalism has declared the market as the only force, with the dollar the ultimate benchmark. There is a prevailing view that if you can’t benchmark it in dollar terms then it can’t exist. But most things we value can’t be measured in this way, such as curiosity, passion, love, health, education and initiative.

“In the USA, isolation kills more people each year than tobacco related diseases. Revitalisation of community, recovering a sense of place, nourishing social capital, rebuilding commitment – Local Government can do all this and restore faith in public life.”

He said to achieve this Councils need to focus on the following four key areas.

• Service delivery done well, but not only measured in terms of efficiency or the lowest unit cost.
• Good governance, which is transparent, setting out exactly where there are deficiencies proving Council is serious about improving its performance.
• Advocacy, lobbying strongly on behalf of its residents, with Council recognising the same people that elected it, also elected State and Federal Governments.
• Advancing social capital – that Local Government accepts it is the prime vehicle for increasing participation and restoring faith in public life.

“Begin with conversation,” Tim Costello said. “Bring people together to look at issues affecting them. Give people opportunities so they know that they matter.”

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