As a fast-growing city in Australia's Northern Territory, Palmerston faces a number of planning and financial challenges. To this end, the council engaged in a process to involve Palmerston residents in developing a strategic plan. The process included community surveys and forums with young people and local Aboriginal communities.
Problems and Purpose
Palmerston is a city near Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territories. It has a young and growing population and is popular with families [1]. In 2018, the newly elected Council embarked on a community engagement process to design a new strategic plan laying out a vision and priorities for the next ten years [2].
The council highlighted its significant financial challenges that needed to be balanced with community needs and expectations of a growing city [3]. To this end, they embarked on an deliberative engagement process with the ‘Palmerston People’s Forum’ to enable the community to draft the new plan. The forum sat alongside surveys and workshops with other sections of the community.
Background History and Context
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Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities
The Palmerston People’s Forum was convened by the City of Palmerston Council. The deliberative forum was designed and facilitated by democracyCo.
Participant Recruitment and Selection
The overall engagement process involved over 200 people, which included 90 who took part in a community survey and 40 randomly selected citizens who participated in the Palmerston People’s Forum. 16 young people also joined the forum for the second day by invitation [4].
The Council specifically mentions ‘business owners, parents, young people, volunteers, professionals, tradespeople and retirees’ [5] as having taken part in the process, but it is not clear whether all these groups were recruited through the random selected process for the forum, or took part by invitation, or in other parts of the process outside the forum.
Methods and Tools Used
What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation
The process began with a workshop for elected officials to plan and input into the process. This was followed by the recruitment of initially 50 participants for the forum.
Before the forum met in person, a community survey was conducted which included forum participants. The aim of the survey was to provide ideas and expectations for the community plan.
The forum met over three days in September/October 2018. Also in September, an Indigenous Leaders and Community Forum was held separately, led by the Larrakia people. Views collected from the Indigenous forum were presented to the main forum. On the second day of the forum, participants’ families were invited to join the deliberation and see what had been achieved so far. Local school students and a youth group were also invited, with 16 young people joining the forum to share their ideas and vision for Palmerston’s future.
Council staff were encouraged to participate by providing advice and information on feasibility of different options for the plan. Participants were also provided with information about the council’s role and prospects for the city. It is not clear if the forum included expert presentations.
On the final day the forum finalized their proposals. The council itself drafted the Community Plan which was then put out for public consultation before being finalized in April 2019 [6].
Influence, Outcomes, and Effects
The final Community Plan was adopted by Council in April 2019. The aim of the plan is provide a check for Council ‘to check our performance against and to hold both Elected Members and staff to account’ [7]. As such, it can be used a form of accountability for the Council’s actions in the future, given that it was developed with the community.
Analysis and Lessons Learned
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See Also
References
[1] democracyCo (2020) Palmerston Strategic Plan. Available at: https://www.democracyco.com.au/our-projects/palmerston-strategic-plan/
[2] City of Palmerston (2019) Draft Community Plan. Available at: https://www.palmerston.nt.gov.au/council/have-your-say/2018/draft-community-plan
[3] democracyCo (2020) Palmerston Strategic Plan. Available at: https://www.democracyco.com.au/our-projects/palmerston-strategic-plan/
[4] City of Palmerston (2019) Draft Community Plan. Available at: https://www.palmerston.nt.gov.au/council/have-your-say/2018/draft-community-plan
[5] Ibid.
[6] City of Palmerston (2018). Draft Community Plan [pdf]. Available at: https://www.palmerston.nt.gov.au/sites/default/files/uploads/files/2018/DRAFT1_CoP_Community_Plan_2018.pdf
[7] City of Palmerston (2019). Community Plan [pdf]. Available at: https://www.palmerston.nt.gov.au/sites/default/files/uploads/files/2019/CoP_Community%20Plan.pdf
External Links
https://www.palmerston.nt.gov.au/council/have-your-say/2018/draft-community-plan
https://www.democracyco.com.au/our-projects/palmerston-strategic-plan/
