Hello

Fun fact: this report is going out to over 1,000 readers for the first time!

To mark the milestone, today's edition answers the questions I get asked most often about The Civic Report.

Today’s newsletter is 946 words, a 5 minute read.

My name is Liam. I grew up on the Far South Coast of NSW and have lived in Wollongong for 10 years. I love living here.

I love that I can leave my door and be on the beach or in the bush in a few minutes.

I love that half of what I know about what’s going on around town comes from the Beaton Park sauna at 5 pm on a Thursday.

I love that I can bump into our elected leaders at Aldi on a Sunday and have a chat.

I love that we can all complain about town getting busier and traffic getting out of control, and all still know that we have it pretty damn good here. That we’re fortunate to call this place home. And I love that we have a community that is willing to fight for it.

I also love the political. Which, of course, includes ‘politics’, or the day-to-day activities of governments and officials. But the political is something much bigger. It captures the underlying nature of human social relationships. It is the ever-moving framework of how we choose to coexist as a community.

And, to me, one of the best representations of the political is found at the local level, among communities such as Wollongong. I believe it is the decisions that are made right here at home that have the greatest effect on our daily lives.

Unfortunately, I found that our TVs, newspapers, and social media feeds are filled with what decisions are made in Canberra, or even Washington, rather than what’s going on at our doorstep. The result: locals don't hear about what's happening, and officials aren't held accountable for the decisions they make.

But all the information is out there, right? Well, sure. But even if I enjoy reading through business papers and watching hours of meetings on a Monday night, it doesn’t mean that everyone does.

So, I started The Civic Report to make it as accessible as possible for everyone to know what’s going on in their community.

No! The Civic Report is completely independent. It is not affiliated with either Wollongong City Council or any political party.

I’m always happy to have a chat with anyone, including politicians, and listen to what they have to say. But the reports that you read every week have no agenda other than helping to inform the community of what’s happening.

Absolutely. This is an aspect of council that I find most interesting. Individuals and communities can have a far greater influence on political decisions at the local level than at other levels of government.

In my experience, all politicians are very interested in the same thing: getting reelected. Which isn’t as cynical as it sounds! In fact, I think it’s one of the great mechanisms of democracy.

When a politician feels like they’re in danger of losing votes, they’ll suddenly become very responsive to community concerns. And that’s something the community can use.

So, my advice to anyone who wants to change a council decision is simple: show your councillors exactly how many votes they stand to lose if they go against the wishes of the community, and then show them what they can do to get the votes back.

The honest answer is I'm still working that out. The Civic Report started as an experiment. Now, more than 1,000 subscribers later, it’s clear there’s a genuine appetite for this kind of publication in Wollongong.

But one decision I don't want to make without your input is how The Civic Report sustains itself financially. Independent publishing costs time and money to produce properly, and how a publication funds itself shapes a lot about how it looks in future.

I don't intend to put content behind a paywall. Civic information should be free for anyone to access. So there are two broad paths: advertising and sponsorships, where local businesses pay to reach you as an audience, or reader contributions, where people who find it valuable support it directly to keep it free for everyone else.

Both models are used by publications I respect, and both have trade-offs. I genuinely don't know which one Wollongong readers would prefer.

So I'm asking you:

How should The Civic Report fund its future?

A: Advertising and sponsorships. Fund it through local business ads and partnerships.

B: Reader contributions. Paid subscriptions or voluntary support from readers who value it.

C: A mix of both. Some advertising alongside a reader contribution option.

D: I have no preference, just keep publishing.

If you get any value from The Civic Report, please click on the link to cast your vote and have your say on its future.

I really do enjoy writing these reports each week, but they would be nothing if not for you! So thanks for being here; it really means a lot.

And don’t worry, it’s back to regular programming next week.

Talk soon,

Liam

PS: The reason the address below is in New York, USA is because that’s where the company I use to organise and send these emails is based.