The National Simultaneous Story time in May took us out of this world. I had the delight of reading for Whitehorse’s contribution to the collective voicing of Philip Bunting’s Give Me Some Space! It was a wonderful interplanetary adventure, and kudos to the Whitehorse Manningham Library staff for making it happen seamlessly for a large online audience. Putting on that astronaut suit made me think about governance in harsh spaces.
The intended manned missions to Mars coming in the 2030s started their governance thinking last decade. This recognised that working out how to make good decisions, in extreme, hostile, environments – without real time help from Earth – needed a lot of preparation. This isn’t mostly about technology. It requires a lot of repeated conversation about how to practise adapting and keeping everyone calm and able to make best available choices. Governance institutes around the world are thinking about what Mars will mean for us, not just the space agencies and commercial interests.
Local government thinking benefits from the widest possible lens we can give it. Despite COVID-driven disruption, we have far less challenges than Mars will present. Yet we still need calm – and pathways for good, sustainable, choices. When I am engaging in Eley and across Whitehorse – in traffic management and advocacy, playground renewal, planning and permits, wellbeing initiatives possibilities and budget approval, to name a few from June – I am figuratively that astronaut striving to stay in pragmatic, adaptive and big picture thinking.
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