Talking heads: Council head eyes NZ way

Name: Murray Douglas.
Position: chief executive, Moonee Valley City Council.
Born: Upper Hutt, of Maori and Scottish Heritage.
Moonee Valley City Council has seven elected councillors for the 110,000 residents.


What makes your day at work?


A day where everything comes together.

Not every day is the same, of course, and not all endings are happy but when people work together on a project and contribute collectively, that ends up as rewarding.

How did you get where you are today?


I started out as a teacher, which I enjoyed. I did two years but I couldn't stand working for long periods with other teachers. There are some very good teachers who are dedicated, but there are others who want to work only from 9 to 3. I couldn't see the value in that.

After that, I worked for the Red Cross both in New Zealand and overseas. When I returned, I went into local government and the main incentive was that I needed to earn more money.

I was lucky to work under Bob Vine, then the Town Clerk at Upper Hutt and later at Lower Hutt. He was an extraordinary person. He was not an academic, but he talked about professions and ethics and about serving communities. He also talked about the whole component of what it is to integrate a whole city.

This is quite different to running any other type of business. You manage in public, which is not easy. You make mistakes in public and you get your criticism in public.

Who was your most important mentor?


There were two and they had an earlier influence than Bob. At Victoria University, in Wellington, there were two professors who I believe have been highly underrated in New Zealand. Peter Munz, a lecturer in history, would tell history as if it was a fairytale. He would regale you about the people who drove the history. The other was Samuel Harvey Franklin, a professor of economic geography. He thought strategically and he taught me to draw my ideas. This was in the 1970s, long before the term "ecosystems" became fashionable.

Both men were important because they taught you a sense of place. In local government, unless you have a sense of place you can't work.

What is your advice to someone starting out in your field of work?


In this area you have to have a lot of strategic vision. If you just concentrate on the day to day items you can get knocked around.

What was your biggest career break?


I got my break when local government reform was taking place in New Zealand in the late 1980s. I was there at the right time.

One of the tragedies, though, that has occurred in local government in New Zealand and, to some extent here, is that there is a gap between what the people want in their communities and what the jurisdictional boundary is.

So what we are doing in Moonee Valley is to say that we are a collection of villages, albeit within an urban area.

If we begin to understand how that works in a public policy sense, even down to what the streets look like, then I think we can continue that sense of place.

What's the biggest challenge for your organisation?


The challenge for this organisation is to liberate the ideas. Local government in Australia has been battered by change, a bit like New Zealand in the 1980s, so we have to put this behind us and take the opportunity.

The State Government layer here is quite intrusive and we have to be more outward looking and more willing to try new ideas.

We have a very good computer system but we use it as a desktop calculator and so we haven't taken advantage of using it for access to the internet, for instance.

We have to work with unions and staff to break down those barriers that there is to a different way of doing things.

Starting in July, there will be a new customer service area. This will be based on knowledge rather than service. I have just sent five of my staff to New Zealand to see that there is a different way for public participation.

How do you relax?


Physical labour. I find this quite a contrast to my working day and I enjoy building projects. I am rebuilding a house here, so I go from sitting behind my desk to getting a hammer in my hand or a paintbrush and away I go.

Here I live at Middle Park so I can go down to the beach and you know that New Zealanders love the sea. A bit of tennis also.

What skill would you like to have?


The ability to market and improve my writing skills. Communicating and promoting public participation in local government are imperative in my field of work.

How important is it to keep a sense of humour in your job?


Critical. On my first day here, when arriving at work, there was a load of garbage dumped at the front door of the offices, left by a disgruntled resident. This protest was something that I hadn't been involved with but the rubbish was there to greet me. It was a message to the previous chief executive and was a wonderful greeting card.

You have to deal with trademark silly letters and the unproductive phone calls, so it helps to have a sense of humour.

You've got to be able to shrug it off and keep a sense of perspective. It's the diversity of the job that is fascinating. Most people sell one or two products. Here we sell dog licences, licences for brothels and preschools and deal with roading and social welfare issues. These are all people services, full of idiosyncratic components and you have to deal with it all.

Murray Douglas talked to Susan Jennison.