Council 2.0: How Local Government Is Moving From Outreach to Partnership

Across Australia, local government is shifting from “tell us what you think” to share influence and show your working. Two reforms underpin that direction:

• Victoria: every council must adopt a Community Engagement Policy under s55 of the Local Government Act 2020, and apply deliberative practices for key strategic plans.

• NSW: councils and planning authorities must publish Community Participation Plans (CPPs) that set minimum standards, timeframes and how feedback is considered—so communities know the rules before engagement begins.

What does this look like in practice? Recent Core Values Awards (2025) projects point to a playbook:

• Federal Village Masterplan — built momentum with iterative, place-based engagement and highly visual materials that made trade-offs legible, then closed the loop with public artefacts.

• Guildford Laneway Renewal — used micro-local engagement and street-level prototyping to turn small spaces into shared assets, with transparent updates and quick wins to sustain confidence.

• Love Where You Live — focused on hyper-local pride and behaviour change through co-created ideas and rapid reporting, showing how small civic projects build trust fast.

For councils, the through-line is clear: publish scope and influence upfront, design for access (plain language, captioning, translated summaries, varied venues and hours), and report back on what changed—and why within fixed timeframes. The payoff is better representation, fewer late-stage shocks, and a community that returns because the process is credible.

Sources

Victoria – Local Government Act 2020, s55 (Community Engagement Policy)

NSW – Community Participation Plans (Planning Portal overview)

NSW – Community Participation Plans (Policy page)

City of Sydney – Community Engagement Strategy & Community Participation Plan 2025–2029

Core Values Awards (2025) – Winners (for Federal Village Masterplan; Guildford Laneway Renewal; Love Where You Live)

Thought Leadership – Strategic Engagement: Democracy’s Urgent Task by Sally Hussey