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Media Release

June 4 2008

Netting community opinion for local government


Online forum offers new platform for neighborhood feedback Over 1000 residents from five SA council districts have signed up to be a part of Community Panel, a new approach to community consultation and council decision-making that uses the internet to build online community feedback.

Developed by UniSA’s Ehrenberg-Bass Institute in partnership with the Local Government Association of South Australia (LGASA) and five South Australian City Councils, Community Panel is still in its pilot stage but is already proving invaluable.

Head of UniSA’s Ehrenberg-Bass Sustainable Marketing Research Group, Dr Anne Sharp says community consultation is an essential part of local government operations but is not always easy to achieve.

“The development of online communities through Community Panel will help to overcome the very real challenges of traditional community consultation models, which are often difficult for residents to take part in because of location or time constraints,” Dr Sharp says.

Already, online panels have been recruited for the Cities of Burnside, Tea Tree Gully, Unley and Whyalla and the Coorong District Council.

Councils have recruited residents of all ages and backgrounds to join their panel, to achieve an online 'community' of people that is both geographically and demographically representative of the population of their cities.

Community Panel members are invited by email to complete a small number of online surveys each year - most taking only a few minutes to complete.

Dr Sharp says the knowledge and guidelines being developed will help other South Australian City Councils to join the Community Panel with the aim of achieving technology sharing, benchmarking and cost savings.

“As part of the pilot phase we are testing the online panels against the more traditional consultation and research methods to evaluate the accuracy of the results and the online panel profiles,” Dr Sharp says.

"This is a great step forward for South Australian Councils, LGASA and for residents.

“Community Panel is a means of encouraging greater community input into local government decision making in a way that is altogether more convenient for many residents and less time consuming.

“It will also allow for information sharing between councils and substantial costs savings.

“The fact that more than 1000 people have already signed on to the project so soon into its pilot phase is extremely positive and a real indicator of the support for Community Panel and the whole idea of delivering a new method of community engagement in the important decision making that takes place at the local level of government."

 

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