Abstract
This paper details a new model for local government consultation and research. The model involves a local government partnering with a university to establish an online panel of citizens that is then used for consultations and research on a range of local government issues over time. The model was evaluated across an 18-month pilot involving three metropolitan councils in South Australia, each running its own panel. This paper details the rationale behind the panels, steps involved in their establishment, and what the most effective recruitment methods were to build panel membership. The model’s ability to recruit a wide audience of citizens as members, including those who would not normally participate in local government matters, is examined, as well as citizen expectations of the panel and satisfaction with being a member. Finally, key learnings from the pilot are identified. The pilot results demonstrate that such an online panel model can be used effectively in the local government context. The panels achieved citizen membership wider than that historically seen in local government consultation and research, and were sustainable in terms of continued participation and high levels of citizen satisfaction. Since the pilot, the project has grown to include seven councils and almost 2500 citizens. This is further evidence that this model offers a way forward for enhanced citizen participation in local government decision-making and policy development.
Highlights
Meaningful and effective community consultation and participation have been identified as critical for local government in the 21st century, as has improved monitoring and evaluation of local government performance
According to the ‘spectrum’, the research and consultation examples discussed in this paper would mostly be classed as ‘listening’ and this paper evaluates the effectiveness of the online panel approach for this task
It is important to note that both of these councils had been proactive in their approaches to community consultation, running major community-wide consultation processes in the years preceding, so the results in Table 3 do not reflect a lack of effort on the part of councils, but rather the genuine difficulty in engaging the community
Summary
Meaningful and effective community consultation and participation have been identified as critical for local government in the 21st century, as has improved monitoring and evaluation of local government performance. 1 The pilot project examined in this paper was the first in Australia to establish online panels across multiple councils and with the aim of learning and disseminating knowledge about this approach. The university had its own in-house research field team, including the ability to write, host and analyse consultation surveys. This partnership gave local government access to research design and consultation implementation expertise, as well as being able to assure panel members of anonymity and confidentiality in their participation. The university gained benefits from being able to build a research agenda around the pilot; one that was grounded in practice-oriented research
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