9 March 2014
Two major policies taken by the Greens to the last Council election and included by our Greens Councillors in the 2013-14 Annual Plan and Budget have come to implementation, with Council agreeing to two new major community engagement programs.
The first is a series of Community Forums in community and civic centres across the municipality, in the months of March and April 2014. The forums are a great opportunity for the community to meet their Councillors and Council staff to engage with policy questions which impact on local suburbs.
The community forums will be held in Kensington, North Melbourne, East Melbourne and the CBD.
Event details, and the portal to ask any specific questions you might have in advance of each forum, are here.
The second is a new and exciting large-scale deliberative democracy program, with a jury of 40 City of Melbourne community members at its core, to provide recommendations to Council on a new 10 year financial plan, which will articulate spending priorities for the years ahead.
The consultation program was endorsed (1mb pdf) at the last Council meeting, and is a bold step for a Capital City Council to take, given the 10 year financial plan will be such a significant document, and that the consultation mechanism is far outside convention or the requirements of the Local Government Act.
The Greens’ Democracy Policy includes the following two key priorities, taken to the last election:
3. Hold community forum meetings, with all Councillors present, in community centres across the municipality.
4. Expand Council’s program of Community Forums and trial specific deliberative democracy programs to ensure that the community has regular opportunities to meet and be engaged with issues of importance to them.