The study records the breadth and depth of cultural activities occurring in Victorian public libraries, and invites library users, staff and stakeholders to join a wide-ranging discussion about the cultural dimensions of libraries and the meaning and value of libraries to them as citizens.

This paper provides an empirical account of public participation within an Australian local government context. It seeks to determine the ways civic discourse is articulated and how (if at all) this facilitates civic connection with local government. Through in-depth interviews and focus groups with local citizens from the Victorian municipality of the City of Casey...

Successive bushfire inquiries in Australia have called for authorities to more effectively harness and disseminate bushfire information. Recommendations from these inquiries suggest a new approach to bushfires involving greater co-ordination, in which home dwellers, emergency fire services and government work more closely together and acknowledge that education, safety, planning and emergency management can be effective...

The aim of this paper is to assist local government urban planners with their community engagement practice in order to form policies which are acceptable to affected communities.

This paper outlines preliminary research that explored 16 community strategic plans in the context of how they inform land use planning and concluded that there is much work to do.