How it all began
In September 2001, as Premier, Jim Bacon signed off on the Tasmania Together Vision:
"Together we will make Tasmania an icon for the rest of the world by creating a proud and confident society where our people live in harmony and prosperity"
His personal desire and commitment for a plan to be developed and implemented by the community for Tasmania out to 2020, created a new way for all Tasmanians to be involved in the decisions that affect our lives.
Tasmania Together took more than two years to complete.
Such a process – inviting the community to have a say about every aspect of society – had never been attempted in such detail.
Tasmania Together includes a visionary statement and broad goals underpinned by specific benchmarks that can be regularly measured and monitored.
It is a plan based on an ethos of community involvement and ownership in determining a preferred future for the people of Tasmania and ensuring that all Tasmanians can participate.
The words in Tasmania Together come from those Tasmanians who attended public meetings and those who made submissions.
The Tasmania Together Progress Board, the Community Leaders Group and staff in the Secretariat, thank Jim for the commitment and leadership he gave to ensure the vision of all Tasmanians is realised over time.
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Community Leaders Group
The Community Leaders Group was established after an initial round of consultations by the Premier.
This group had primary responsibility for the development of the plan, and consulting with the community to see what the people of Tasmania wanted the plan to contain.
This process included the identification of benchmarks.
The group was drawn from the widest possible spectrum in the community, with every effort being made to include representation from sectors of the community who may previously have felt that they were excluded from decision-making processes.
This ensured the Community Leaders Group was an independent body representing the Tasmanian community to the greatest extent possible.
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Michael Aird
Premier's Representative (Chair)
Jane Bennett
Production Manager,
Ashgrove Cheese
Emma Catchpole
Student,
University of Tasmania
Professor Rob Clark
Head of School of Agricultural Science,
University of Tasmania
Grant Dunham
Manager/Director,
Dunham Electrical
Catherine Fernon
Community Planning and Development Manager,
Burnie City Council
Tony Hainsworth
Information Technology Teacher,
TAFE
Jenni Jarvis
Specialist Adviser - External Relations,
Comalco Bell Bay
Bev Jennings
Project Officer,
Tigers Program
Danny Keep
Chief Executive Officer,
Tasmanian Business and Employment Centre
Roz Lansdell
Industrial Officer,
Australian Education Union
Michael Lynch
Director,
Tasmanian Conservation Trust |
Nathan Mansell
Former State President,
Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre
Dr Jenna Mead
Senior Lecturer,
School of English, Journalism and
European Languages and Literatures,
University of Tasmania
Mary Reason
Women's Development Officer,
Women Tasmania
Jerril Rechter
Artistic Executive,
Stompin Youth Dance Co
Wendy Schoenmaker
Circular Head Councillor; Tour Guide,
Circular Head and Woolnorth tours
Manny Spiteri
Executive Director,
Knowledge Management Australia (KMA)
Philipa Varris
Former Manager,
Employee & Environmental Relations,
Henty Gold Mine,
Goldfields Limited
Louise Sullivan
Branch Director,
Pharmacy Guild of Australia
Ivan Webb
Former Principal,
Riverside Primary School
Dave Willans
Executive Officer,
Youth Network of Tasmania |
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Search Conference
Recognising that our problems are deep and wide ranging, members of the CLG were given the benefit of hearing the views of 60 Tasmanians from a broad cross-section of the community at a three-day conference.
This Search Conference was a starting point for Tasmania Together. It resulted in a draft document titled Our Vision, Our Future, which was distributed widely throughout the state and acted as a springboard for discussion.
As a measure of community involvement in the process, the entire print run of Our Vision, Our Future was requested by and distributed to 14,000 committed organisations and individuals.
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Community Consultation
Tasmania Together made a concerted effort to reach far-flung communities. More than 60 public meetings were held in cities and towns across the state – from Rosebery on the West Coast to St Helens on the East Coast, from Dover in the South to Smithton in the North-West, and King and Flinders Islands in Bass Strait.
More than 100 community organisations were consulted and more than 160 detailed written submissions were received from business groups, peak bodies and individuals.
All of this material was invaluable, coming as it did on the back of more than 4,000 comment sheets returned by readers of Our Vision, Our Future and more than 6,200 messages from website visitors.
Thanks to the support of Australia Post, Tasmania Together postcards were delivered to households throughout the state, and 2,500 people went to the trouble of putting their views in writing and returning the card.
Not one word was wasted. Every submission was entered into a database, a task that took two months, before a powerful software program sorted the material into areas of common interest – themes that people felt most strongly about.
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What Tasmanians Told Us
The vision had to be developed into clear objectives. The community established major priority areas for Tasmania and developed the 24 Goals that underpin the work of Tasmania Together . The following outlines what the Tasmanian community told us and the challenge that lay ahead.
- Our Community
- Our Culture
- Our Democracy
- Our Economy
- Our Environment
Once the Goals had been identified and established 212 Benchmarks were then set to help shape key areas of community wellbeing, culture, democracy, economy and environment, and enable Tasmanians to follow the state's progress over time.
