05/01/2026
✨ OUR WISH FOR 2026 ✨
A bold fantasy by the long-suffering ratepayers of Australia
Dear Councils,
For 2026, we’re not asking for the moon. Just the basics.
The boring stuff. The things you were created to do before the era of consultants, comms teams, and 97-page “visioning frameworks”.
Before Consultants ruled the financials and sucked the life out of Council coffers.
🎁 Our extremely unreasonable, apparently impossible wish list:
🗑️ Bins emptied - weekly, predictably, and without the “bin missed” bingo game
🚧 Potholes repaired before Google Maps starts rerouting around them
🧹 Streets swept - not once a decade, not “trialled”, actually swept
🎨 Graffiti removed - not celebrated, curated, or given an artist residency
🎉 Community festivals that don’t cost a million dollars and require riot fencing
🌳 Parks & gardens maintained - grass cut, weeds gone, trees alive
📚 Libraries fully staffed - books, quiet spaces, librarians… not social experiments
🗣️ Communities consulted properly before recommendations & decisions are made (radical, we know)
🏗️ Residents genuinely heard on planning permits - not just “acknowledged” then ignored
💰 Rates treated as a privilege - not Monopoly money for “innovation pilots”
👏 People thanked for attending meetings, not treated like hostile witnesses
👥 Councillors talking less about themselves and more about the people they represent
🅿️ Parking & permits that are simple - no 6-week wait, no attitude
💡 Street lighting treated as essential safety infrastructure, not a vibes debate
🌱 Climate action that’s practical - insulation, shade, drainage - not ideological cage matches
🖤 Indigenous communities respected without creating division or resentment
🇦🇺 The Australian Flag as the only flag flying atop council buildings
🍲 Meals on Wheels & food for the vulnerable prioritised - not quietly defunded
🔊 Noise complaints taken seriously - even if the offender owns a café
🏪 Small business treated like heroes - not ATMs with ABNs
➕ BONUS WISHES (because hope is free):
📊 Budgets written in plain English, not corporate Mad Libs
🧾 Consultants used sparingly, like chilli - not poured on everything
📉 Rates rises explained honestly, without “cost-of-living empathy” press releases
🧑🔧 More tradies, fewer strategists
📨 Emails answered before retirement age
🛑 Trials that actually end - either stop them or make them permanent
🚫 No more “pilot programs” that cost millions and solve nothing
🧠 Common sense restored as a recognised governance skill
🪑 Council chambers welcoming to residents, not designed to intimidate them
🧹 Less activism, more basic service delivery
🙏 Less outsourcing and more "doing" by Council Staff
✨ No rebrands
✨ No buzzwords
✨ No “journeys”
✨ No glossy PDFs to explain why nothing works
Just councils doing council things - competently, quietly, and without applause.
We know.
ᴏᴜᴛʀᴀɢᴇᴏᴜꜱ.
ᴜɴʀᴇᴀʟɪꜱᴛɪᴄ.
ᴘʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴄᴀʟʟʏ ꜱᴄɪᴇɴᴄᴇ ꜰɪᴄᴛɪᴏɴ.
But hey - it’s Our Wish for 2026 🎆
We can but dream.