It is the final day of work for Lismore City Council General Manager John Walker after twelve months in the job. And what a twelve months it has been.

Mr Walker took over the reins of a council that had been struggling with its finances for more than a decade. Each financial year the ink was red as previous General Managers and Councillors tried to find a way into the black through either an increase in rates or cuts to spending.

The job description was to help LCC turn the boat around and sail it into smooth waters and blue skies bringing Lismore back to its former glory days.

February 28, 2022, changed the job description instantly. From looking into how LCC operated, Mr Walker had to pivot to rescue, recover and rebuild in a way that not many GMs had done before, if at all because of the size and scale of Australia's largest natural disaster.

The Lismore App sat down with John Walker to discuss what has been a most unusual time as General Manager of Lismore City Council.

How did you feel when you were appointed as GM?

"I was initially, I guess, excited about the prospect of coming in and trying to help reform the council. I mean, clearly, its reputation preceded it."

"I knew there was a lot of work to be done, but it was normal work. It was just looking at how the organisation worked, how to make it better, how to get the finances right and all that stuff that was the challenge at the time and so that excited me. Then working with Steve looked like it was going to be good fun as well, and his team."

"But of course, it changed and it changed dramatically and it's very hard to describe the change. It's not the job it was. Clearly, it was a different job and being thrown into the deep end, in the middle of the disaster, and playing the role of a general manager, which is front and centre really on a whole range of areas. We moved into the operation centre, the recovery, mustering our labour force, recovery centres, all those sorts of things were, to all of us, new. Even though I'd been in disasters and I studied at the disaster management colleges at Mount Macedon (Victoria) years before, they were all new and they are all demanding."

"Of course, I didn't know anybody either, which is also hard. So when you try to manage the resources, the people and the machinery you don't know anybody or the players. I only met the police superintendent once, so you were dealing with a lot of unknowns, it was a hell of a challenge."

"We also had new councillors, who also didn't know their role, didn't understand their role and in many respects, they don't have a role in a disaster because the mayor is the face of the city and the face of the council and Steve performed that brilliantly. I thought he instinctively knew how to get those communications across and did a wonderful job."

"You know, the general manager and his staff fall into place. We take direction from the commands that are there and I think we did well. But the new councillors, there's not a lot of role for a council. Not a lot of role for democracy and democratic chambers in the middle of an emergency. That's reality, but I think it upset a lot of them when they realised they didn't have much of a role."

What was the biggest impact on your life in the last 12 months?

"The impact was just the sheer scale and volume and responsibility that went with having to deal with it. It was difficult, it was hard. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my career in local government and just managing to deal with it and work with everybody and the enormous responsibility you felt with it. I mean, it sounds a bit trite because people were generally affected and if your life is in danger, that's much more meaningful than what a public servant has to do, but we have to carry the load. So, the sense of responsibility I think, was all-encompassing."

"The decision making, the participation in all the various elements that were there and have been since, whether it's housing or the NRRC or the emergency recovery committees or public works, all the elements of what we've done, I have been personally involved and so that's enormous. But we're in public service and to do public service is good."

How has it affected you personally?

"I wouldn't want to do it again, in a hurry. It's made me more committed, I think, to public service. The one thing about it, and I've had a mixed career in the private sector and public service, but there are a lot of things that you can do that are good in public service, and I'd like to do more of that."

"It's probably made me a bit more disillusioned with local government. I think the structure of local government is faulty. I don't think it's necessarily the best way to deliver things and so I probably have stronger views about where local government fits in the place. Clearly, the state government is a driver, it's where the money comes from. The feds put the money in and don't actually get involved in delivery so states really important."

"I've always been a very strong supporter of local government, and the principles behind local government and local democracy and the like but I think Lismore is very different. I think it disillusions you somewhat, the way that local government is practised here."

"Generally, you can't do anything without money and you can't do anything without power and we have neither so it's a bit disillusioning in that sense. But helping communities and working with communities isn't necessarily the local government, there are a whole lot of structures around that are important. So I've probably become more of a supporter of state and less of local government which is quite a reverse to where I've always been."

You said you have strong views on local government. How would you change it to be more effective?

"In my early years, I've been a bit of a radical I guess, and I've thought all sorts of things. You can talk amalgamations, you can talk changing structures, people talk about removing levels of state government, none of that's possible. States have the power, states have the constitutional power."

"Local government needs to be more regional, you know, it needs to find a way to work cooperatively. If you look at the disaster, local government boundaries are irrelevant. Because it's the basin, it's the flow of water, it's the reach that you have for employment and service delivery, all of it goes beyond a local government boundary. The artificial boundaries that we operate in, I think, are a problem and there's no doubt in my mind, I'm a greater believer now in regional activity than I might have been."

"And there's no strength, unfortunately, in any of our regional bodies. They really don't do a lot. You know, we talk about the basics. Should there be a reasonable solution to waste? Yes, there should. Is there? No there isn't. Why isn't there? Why haven't there been regional solutions to most things over time and you wonder why that's the case. But there hasn't been, I mean, no one can point to a really successful regional activity. So, in that government sense, I think there's a scope for better work there."

"I think state because they've got so much money, they put a lot of money into New South Wales local government in the last 10 years. That's helped. But when you put money in, you've got to have a say as well to make sure the outcomes are right. I think that relationship between state and local government needs changing. It's not a big brother, little brother thing, but it's got to be more cooperative. There's got to be a better way, better integration between elected people at state and local levels, better integration between the bureaucracies."

Is cost-shifting a big issue?

"It is an issue, it's a big issue. Because if you dump responsibility for delivery onto local government and don't accompany that with money, it makes it very hard for the local government. But I think we've seen in New South Wales tremendous support from the state to local in terms of money. I've never seen money flow like I have now but it's more how you deliver it. We can't deliver, at the moment for example, roads, we can't deliver the road repair job on our own. We need expertise, we need funds, cash flow, we need people we can't afford to have. It doesn't work without a partnership between the state and local."

"So more partnerships, more regionalisation, more solutions than parochialism would be useful."

"Regions are more natural in terms of their reach. The Northern Rivers is a region. Whether it's Casino, Lismore or Ballina we cross over in economic development, economic growth, we cross over in things like waste and roads. Why do we all independently hire project managers and engineers? We're looking collaboratively at the moment because we have to but there should be more of that in the future. So it's not a big shift, but it's a significant shift and I don't think it's possible to achieve the shift just by voluntary arrangements because history shows that none of the voluntary arrangements work."

Finally, what bit of advice would you offer the new general manager John Gibbons when he steps into the role tomorrow?

"Continuity and stability of direction is really important. What the uncertainty of the last five years has shown is that it destroys the staff and destroys their ability and their desire to do good work. So if he can bring with him, that sense of stability or continuity, I think that would be good advice."

"Trust the staff. There are many good people here and they've got great ideas. I think we've seen in the last 12 months a team of people that clearly know what they're doing, clearly know what we need to achieve. So trust them to get on and do it and give them support and guidance."

"And in terms of working with the councillors. I wouldn't give him any advice."