Akira Monaghan on Leverage

In each issue of our journal, we ask a handful of people for a selfie and to reflect on our theme. This is TF.A Architect, Akira Monaghan’s thoughts on the word ‘leverage’:

“My kids have a bath every day. The bath is in good working condition. The water is safe for drinking. The tap does not leak, and the wastewater is quickly drained away through working plumbing into a functioning sewerage system. Plumbing issues can be seen to and fixed on the same day.

Leverage brings to my mind the possibility of a process where a small input can have an output which is comparatively greater.

In the context of bathing children, the input is a working tap, bath and drain. The output is the prevention of serious chronic illnesses, the likes of which are typically seen in conditions of poverty in underdeveloped countries.

Unacceptably, we do find these preventable illnesses here, in remote communities where Aboriginal children develop conditions like rheumatic heart disease.

The No Survey without Fix methodology is just one example of leveraging whereby housing inspections with same day repairs generate improved health outcomes.’