The Reporter website today published an article based on the Queensland Department of Local Government report into the standard of community engagement practice in Queensland Councils.
Among the three Councils nominated for special mention in the report were Bang the Table clients, Logan City Council.
Pam Parker Mayor of Logan
“In March 2008, local government amalgamations saw Logan City Council in Queensland’s south-east grow four-fold to become Australia’s sixth biggest local government. Council saw a need to establish a dedicated community engagement program to stay in touch with the new city’s 269,000 residents and the council’s 1300 plus staff.
Community engagement is about working together for a stronger, involved and inclusive Logan. It is about putting the human factor into council decisions and activities.
A well-planned and executed community engagement process can lead to better outcomes. It is a Queensland legislative requirement that councils undertake community engagement.
Councils are responsible for providing “democratic representation, social inclusion and meaningful engagement”.
Logan City Council’s Corporate Plan 2009-20013 expands on legislative requirements and states that council strives to “develop and implement initiatives that will encourage the community to become more actively involved in issues that may affect them”.
More specifically, the Corporate Plan states that council will “encourage the community to participate in democracy through more inclusive engagement, increasing public access to information, and increasing community involvement in policy development, planning and decision making”.
Some of the achievements of the Community Engagement Program from November 2008 to September 2009 include the establishment of a team of professional community engagement practitioners.
Regular community participation activities have also been introduced, such as Community Chats which have been held monthly with the Mayor and Divisional Councillor since November 2008.
The online public forum “Bang the Table” has also been trialled and adopted.”
