The primary purpose of this package of updates to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EP&A Act) is to promote confidence in our state’s planning system. This will be achieved through four underlying objectives: • to enhance community participation; • to promote strategic planning; • to increase probity and accountability in decisionmaking; and •...

In this guide learn six strategies that enable people with disability to be active and contributing members of their communities. The workbook emphasises that human connection is essential for well-being, safety and a fulfilling life. People with disability often face social isolation and this guide provides steps to foster genuine community inclusion not through segregated...

Almost 25% of all jurisdictional approaches to the Victorian Ombudsman are about local government. Members of the public who complain to the office sometimes express concern that decisions are being made ‘behind closed doors’ or ‘in secret’, presenting this as evidence to support their concerns. The level of concern shown in these complaints is readily...

The theme of this article is current developments in community governance (see, for example, Rolfe, 2016), but it comes with a warning: this is an area where definitions are extremely difficult and it is easy to become distracted by semantics, rather than focused on the substance. Discussion is further complicated by the variety of practice...

While the recent New Zealand local authority elections attracted their fair share of media headlines, the dominant narrative, as in previous elections, was one of declining turnout and whether or not local government has a future. Little was heard about the nature of the role councils play in their towns, cities and regions, or about...