No Job for a Woman by Sallyanne Atkinson

Author:Sallyanne Atkinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Queensland Press

One of the great traditions in our democracy is the Westminster system, whereby public servants have no overt political allegiances and can work on either side of the political divide. Sadly, this is a tradition that seems to have disappeared in Australia in the past 40 years. But there are other differences, not to do with policies but more with practices. Many of the Council managers and directors were men who had been with the Council for many years, they were accustomed to doing things in certain ways and had difficulty accepting change.

Early in my Mayoral career I had a taste of dealing with intransigent men, but from another sphere of government. Russ Hinze as Minister for Main Roads was chair of a policy committee for planning transport in the Brisbane region. Minister for Transport Don Lane, myself and a number of bureaucrats, who were all male and mostly middle-aged, would also attend. At one meeting, when I was protesting some plan or other, Russ ordered the microphone to be turned off: ‘You can complain all you bloody-well like, but it’s going to happen,’ he said, and then the microphone was turned back on. Another time when we were discussing a planned main road through some houses on the north side, I suggested we should go out and consult with the residents. The ministers both looked at me in amazement: ‘What, go out and ask people what we should do? That’s what we were elected for, to make decisions.’

I understood Russ for what he was, an old-fashioned country gentleman. So when he called me ‘girlie’ or ‘pet’, I didn’t protest. I knew there were bigger issues at hand. And I saw the value of ‘rising above it’ as witnessed in his dealings with Maha Sinnathamby an entrepreneurial Sri Lankan who had come to Brisbane in the early 1980s. Sinnathamby came with me to meet the minister with a big idea for extending the Queen Street mall underground. In those days, Maha, later the developer of Springfield, a master-planned city on the outskirts of Brisbane, was called Ted. In meetings Russ would say, ‘Let’s hear from Mr Sin’ or ‘What have you got to say Black Ted?’ Maha wouldn’t blink an eyelid. Now he is one of Australia’s richest men and Springfield, with a population of 32,000, is the fastest emerging city in Australia.

But Russ Hinze and I did form a good working relationship. I could always depend on him for a quick decision. In Opposition, I had fought against a proposed sewage treatment plant at Moggill in my electorate. Now as Lord Mayor, I had to find a site for it somewhere. Council officers had found a suitable one at Wacol, but some government departments – Primary Industries had a research centre nearby and Corrective Services had the Wacol prison – were objecting. I appealed to Russ as the minister and we had an on-site meeting. Russ arrived in his car and lumbered out on walking sticks. He asked the men from each department what their concerns were.

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