Phase one (August to September 2025)

The conversation

The City of Melbourne is updating its Community Engagement Policy to make it easier for the community to get involved and for staff to plan and run engagement activities effectively. 

In Phase One, we: 

  • Spoke the community members about what works and what doesn’t.
  • Looked at how people currently experience engagement with us.
  • Found ways to make engagement clearer, more consistent and easier for everyone. 

These findings will help create a draft policy and guide, which will be shared for more feedback in early 2026. 

Gathering insights

Phase One included 179 surveys (including 80 intercept surveys across 8 locations).

Of those participants:

  • 59% residents 
  • 15% visitors 
  • 9% workers 
  • 5% students 
  • 29% speak a language other than English at home 
  • 3% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
  • 14% were part of the LGBTQIA+ community 
  • 4 were local businesses 
  • 18% were under 30 years old 
  • 46% were born overseas
  • 13% identified as having a disability 
We also conducted:

What we heard

  • Build trust and accountability: Genuine engagement and feedback should visibly influence decisions to build trust. 
  • Close the loop: Clearly show how community input influences decisions.  
  • Support informed participation: Use plain language, visuals, and diverse formats. 
  • Be inclusive: Offer flexible, culturally appropriate engagement options.  
  • Improve communication: Before, during and after engagement.  
  • Recognise varied motivations: People engage for different reasons (e.g. connection, incentives, civic interest). 
  • Staff interactions are generally positive and appreciated.  
  • Online surveys are a preferred method for many. 
  • A wide range of engagement activities are offered. 
  • Some communities feel heard and see genuine opportunities to contribute.  
  • Transparency: Show how feedback informs decisions. 
  • Representation: Ensure participants reflect the diversity of City of Melbourne. 
  • Trust: Address perceptions of tokenism or predetermined outcomes.  
  • Awareness: Many people don't hear about opportunities to engage.  
  • Timing: Avoid short consultation windows and later-stage engagement. 
  • Inclusive practices: Increased resources and training to boost engagement.  
  • Motivations vary by topic and values. 
  • Prefer online surveys but value in-person workshops for connection.  
  • Want to co-design engagement processes.  
  • Need better awareness via youth networks and social media. 
  • Limited understanding of the City of Melbourne’s role and engagement opportunities.  
  • Prefer trusted channels like WhatsApp and university networks. 
  • Need clear messaging on benefits of participation.  
  • Low engagement due to time constraints, low trust and unclear relevance.  
  • Prefer direct, tailored approaches over generic surveys. 
  • Need better understanding of their preferred engagement methods.  
  • Desire for partnership in engagement design and delivery.  
  • Emphasis on restoring trust and valuing community-led work.  
  • Need for inclusive, culturally competent and accessible methods.  

Examples of what we heard

Impact

Drawing on feedback from this phase of community consultation, the updated policy will focus on providing more transparency and accountability for how engagement is planned, delivered and reported on.

The policy will also define when, how and with whom we engage and integrate this into a revised spectrum of participation. Additional learnings and insights will be integrated into the development of a practice framework.

Next steps

Phase Two of community engagement on the draft policy will:

  • Present the draft policy for feedback.
  • Focus on hearing from underrepresented groups from Phase One, including young people and businesses.

Pre-engagement insights

From 2024 to 2025 the City of Melbourne ran more than 50 community engagement consultations, hearing from more than 10,000 people. We are proud of our community engagement but also know that we can improve.

We are particularly interested in ways to increase participation from young people, people born overseas, people who speak a language other than English at home and business owners. We are also interested in how we can make our community engagement processes more transparent – so you feel well informed and can see how your feedback is used in Council decision making.

What we've heard so far

Our 2021 Community Engagement Policy outlines our commitment and approach to community engagement. It was developed in 2020 and endorsed in 2021. About 1,200 people shared feedback to help inform this policy, but a lot has changed since then and we are keen to hear what is still working well and what needs a refresh.

To ensure the 2025 Community Engagement Policy and Practice review builds on what we already know, we have reviewed a range of information:

Select each spot to hear quotes from the community.

Who we often hear from

  • As a capital city, our community includes residents, workers, visitors, students and business owners. Overall, we hear from business owners less frequently than people in the other groups.
  • Our resident population is relatively young and multicultural when compared with other municipalities, but people who participate in our engagements don’t always reflect this.

How people like to engage

  • Community have told us they want lots of different ways to participate, based on what suits them.
  • Many people prefer online surveys because they allow them to quickly share feedback when it suits them. Some people prefer in-person activities to hear from, and connect with, other people.
  • Feedback from the People's Panels for M2050 and Affordable Housing show more in-depth activities can increase trust and confidence in the City of Melbourne.

What makes it hard to engage

Community have told us there are several things that can make it harder for them to participate:

  • not being aware of opportunities
  • limited time – particularly for business owners, workers and those with caregiving responsibilities
  • not feeling welcome or included
  • finding the information hard to understand
  • language barriers
  • not feeling confident – either speaking in person or using technology
  • not feeling like feedback will make a difference.

Community Engagement Policy Review 2025