Our approach

Council commits to open and effective community engagement. We value and acknowledge the skills, views and expertise of the Knox community.

We want to ensure that all our engagement opportunities lead to better decisions and services for Knox.

Our new Community Engagement Policy 2021-23 was endorsed in February 2021. The Policy details Council's approach to community engagement. It also covers the principles that guide our engagements, including good governance and transparency in decision making.

Our commitment and aspirations

We will use the following approach to ensure effective community engagement under the principles in the Local Government Act 2020.

We will
Respect people’s time, and listen to understand. We value the input from our community
Be adaptable and flexible
Work with others across teams and sectors
Be open, honest, transparent and clear on what community can influence
Include all stakeholders affected and seek to engage with that represent of our community
Be resourceful, engage early and often, have a clear purpose and be sensitive to what has happened in the past
Reflect and inform the community of outcomes and how their input was used
We commit to
Work across all levels to inspire and commit to a culture of engagement
Build up our employees' community engagement skills
Develop tools and resources to support staff in engagement planning and processes
Ensure our engagement policy is current
Benchmark with other government and non-government organisations to guide best practices in community engagement
Let our community know how their input has been considered
Review activities to continually improve practices
We aspire to
Increased community participation, trust and confidence in the decision making process
Community engagement that results in better decisions and services for the community
An organisation with the skills and capacity to undertake engagement that is fit for purpose
A culture of community engagement where outcomes inform decision making

Have your say on what matters to you

We would love to have you join us and become part of our Have Your Say community. We want to see this membership grow and become truly representative of the diversity in Knox.

As a member, you will receive emails sharing when topics come up for discussion. You’ll find out how you can take part in online and in-person engagement activities. You'll also be invited to join workshops, attend events or public meetings.

How does it work?

Have Your Say is an online community engagement tool. It provides a convenient feedback option for those who cannot attend face-to-face consultations, such as:

workshops
pop-ups
forums

All comments, ideas and suggestions (collected online or face-to-face) are used to inform Council decision making processes.

Benefits of signing up

There are many reasons to join including:

receiving regular updates on how your contributions have helped shape decisions
receiving progress updates or changes to projects you have subscribed to.
being notified when a project related to your interest is listed.

Who can join?

Anyone who has an interest in Knox can become a member. When you register, let us know what your relationship is. It may be you are a resident, business owner, worker, student or visitor.

Registration is quick and simple with a few optional questions that help us understand a little more about you and your interests.

Join the Have Your Say community