About needing to better the education and upbringing of children, to better care for the health and wellbeing of our aged, diverse and disadvantaged.

About the recognition of the loss of the sense of 'we' and common good.

But as is the way we will all rediscover the truth that when all is said and done, more is said than done.

On a recent visit to my hometown I was dismayed to hear of a development in Launceston which seems to be a litmus test of the common good: the YMCA, established more than 140 years ago, is slated for closure in two weeks.

Why is it so? I asked this of some of those who helped raise the community funds to build the Kings Meadows asset in the 1960s (providing youngsters like me with a valuable outlet), some members and users and others familiar with the operational history.

I came to the conclusion that for too long the YMCA organisation, local management and boards of directors have been delinquent or deficient in good governance, strategic and financial management. To the extent the Kings Meadows centre has endured operating deficits of between $200-400,000 a year for nearly a decade, and COVID-added interest.

Only in the past 12 months did the reality dawn that this was unsustainable and unacceptable.

A not-for-profit ethos is one side of the same coin, the other is not-for-loss.

With the risk of trading insolvent, the YMCA revoked the local licence, restructured the board and management.

Local representations recently began to all levels of government.

The first bid was for a $400,000 emergency injection for a three-year rebuild.

For any organisation to seek emergency funding at the 11th hour to stay alive when it has not managed its own house and/or engaged others during eight years of operational losses is not the way to keep or win friends.

And when the Y has had the benefit of paying only peppercorn rent to the city but then quietly leased some land space to Coles for about $35,000 a year for car parking, it is not the way to keep a generous landlord and key stakeholder on side.

To this observer, the Y seems guilty of not embracing or optimising various opportunities: programs offering the best financial prospects through patronage, government grants and alliances; digital and social marketing; sponsors of activities or space; membership/usage fees with attractive membership benefits; use of its space for commercial but like-activity (child care, physio, medical, massage, podiatry); potential benefactors; tax deductible donations through the Australian Sports Foundation.

It also seems to have not adequately engaged or embraced its own members, let alone the broader community and stakeholders.

Behind the scenes discussions have been underway with council and others for nine months but members were only told 'with heavy heart' in late April of the imminent shutdown without emergency life-line funding.

But what has gone wrong is less important than what might be done to make things right.

The three levels of government can easily point to the YMCA as having written a long suicide note, or assert the responsibility for solutions lies with another arm of government.

But they each work for 'us'.

The City of Launceston's vision is of people working together to create the best outcomes for the community, and that is also the role of state and federal governments. And the desire of every voter is for delivery of those best outcomes, collaboratively not combatively.

We hear talk about the wellbeing of communities, children's educational/social/physical activity beyond gaming screens, for more to be done for the aged and disadvantaged, of reviving civic engagement and elevating the 'we' rather than 'me'.

The YMCA issue might be seen as a community test of walking the talk.

Bad things happen when good people don't act. Is my hometown big enough, committed enough and creative enough to ensure that before June 4 a serious attempt is made to see if there can be life rather than death?

Surely there is enough good people in government, business, sport, education, health, aged and social sectors to collaboratively and creatively find a sustainable footing?

If the collective conclusion is 'lost cause' it would be sad, but it would be sadder if what the YMCA represents was allowed to die without a genuine attempt to save and revive it.

The man who first promoted a YMCA for Launceston, J.Millar Smith, wrote to the Examiner in 1880 saying he recognised 'so many obstacles will be thrown in our way by grumblers, who will find faults but not offer suggestions as to how they may be removed'. But he and others persevered to deliver.

The question today is whether enough good people can quickly gather, not to grumble or focus on faults, but persevere to deliver the best possible community outcome.