Hannah Hammoud
Brimbank council has adopted its draft community engagement policy that will guide council’s community engagement principles.
Council said the policy establishes an engagement framework with a set of principles to guide best practice engagement and enable meaningful and genuine opportunities for community involvement in decision making processes.
In July 2022, council approved the revised community engagement policy 2021, which included an update to the policy that allows for the remuneration of a community panel. The community panel is a group of community members who are available for council to consult on important projects, plans, issues, and strategies in a targeted and effective manner. The Brimbank Community Voice (BCV) was then established in June 2023.
In December 2022, council endorsed a further resolution to be enacted following the establishment of the BCV. This resolution stated that council undertakes a process of deliberative engagement in 2023 to inform a full review and update of the community engagement policy. Following the deliberative engagement process, a draft community engagement policy 2023 was presented to council at the December council meeting and was endorsed for broad community consultation.
Councillor Victoria Borg said as a community first council, community engagement is “highly significant”.
“… council first adopted this policy back in 2021 before it became legal in 2023. It was due for revision in 2023. It is important to mention that the Brimbank Community Voice was established in 2023, and was included in deliberative engagements in the development of the first draft community engagement policy which was endorsed by council in December and made available for community consultation earlier this year,” she said.
“[I am] pleased to say that there was strong support of the statement of policy pillars and principles.”
To support the implementation of the policy, council is also developing a comprehensive community engagement toolkit.
The toolkit is said to operationalise the principles of the policy and will guide staff through the necessary tools and strategies required to encourage active participation in civic decision-making processes.
The toolkit will also include guidance and strategies on supports required by community members to participate in civic decision making processes, engaging with First Nations people, engaging lesser heard demographic groups, and remuneration options for community members participating in engagement activities.
