Queensland Local Government and Community Engagement: Charting a New Way of Doing Business

Renton D¹* & Hardy M²*

1. Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2. Twyford Consulting, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

The aim of the session will be to convey and identify the key ingredients for Queensland Local Government capacity building in support of meaningful community engagement.

The importance of developing a ‘culture of participation’ is recognised by Queensland Local Government as vital to the democratic process and to ensuring quality decision-making. Councils are also aware that outsourcing consulting work, and putting their staff through training programs is no guarantee of embedding new skills into their everyday practices.

The LGAQ is committed to working with a range of partners to build and sustain community engagement capacity within Queensland Local Government. In 2003/4 the Association developed a Community Engagement Framework. This work was recognised by an Australasian award for the ‘Best Policy Framework’ from the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) in February 2005.

The Framework contains the strategies and actions that have been identified as vital to bringing about this change. These include a policy position, comprehensive training and the assistance of a ‘Community Engagement Guiding Team’. The ‘Team’ consists of a diverse partnering of State and Local Government and peak body representatives.

In addition, the development of on-line tips and tools were identified as important in supporting innovative practice, as was the advocacy role of Local Government champions. These elements have contributed to a cultural shift within Queensland Local Government that has contributed to the ‘new way of doing business’. The collaboration with Twyford Consulting has resulted in awareness raising, training and the exploration of options and models.

This session will involve reporting on the progress made against the expectations from a number of perspectives including the Local Government champions and participants. There will be particular focus on how these approaches have made a difference in the smaller rural, remote and less resourced communities. A highly interactive session is planned to provide a feel for the workshops held, as well as to provide opportunities for attendees to reflect on their own experiences with capacity building.

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