The update process showed what value can derive from involving community meaningfully in developing whole-of-state targets. We have not achieved all the elements we wanted, but this has been a landmark process that sets the foundation for ongoing community engagement. For organisations such as ours, the plan gives us a focus for open discussion with state and local governments as well as other community groups, particularly for low income communities.
Mark Henley
Uniting Care Wesley
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How it all began South Australia’s Strategic Plan Update Team
The Update Team, comprising 26 South Australian community leaders, was formed in early 2006 and charged with overseeing a community engagement program1 in relation to South Australia’s Strategic Plan (SASP). The program was designed to improve understanding of what is in SASP and to update the community about what has been done so far to make progress on the targets. It was also about fostering partnerships around achieving the targets. Lastly, the process was intended to obtain considered input from interest groups, community organisations and individuals around South Australia about what they would like to see reflected in this whole-of-state plan. Members of the Update Team
Brenton Wright, Social Inclusion Board (Leadership Team chair)
Peter Blacker, Minister’s Regional Communities Consultative Council (Vice-chair)
Suzanne Roux, Premier’s Council for Women (Vice-chair)
John Bastian, Economic Development Board
Amanda Blair, Social Inclusion Board
Max Brennan, Premier’s Science and Research Council
Mark Butler, Social Inclusion Board Kerry Colbung, Premier’s Aboriginal Advisory Council Patricia Crook, Premier’s Science and Research Council
Ingrid Day, Premier’s Council for Women
Janet Giles, Premier’s Council for Women
Richard Head, Premier’s Science and Research Council
Wayne Jackson, Economic Development Board
Amy King, Ministerial Council on Youth
Alwyn McKenzie, Social Inclusion Board
Pat Mickan, Premier’s Council for Women
Tanya Monro, Premier’s Science and Research Council
Dennis Mutton, Natural Resources Management Council
Leanna Read, Premier’s Science and Research Council
John Rich, Minister’s Local Government Advisory Council
Andrew Stock, Premier’s Round Table on Sustainability
Yvonne Sneddon, Premier’s Round Table on Sustainability
Niki Vincent, Premier’s Round Table on Sustainability
Katherine Wells, Premier’s Round Table on Sustainability
Hieu Van Le, SA Multicultural & Ethnic Affairs Commission
THE PROCESS
The community engagement process we have undertaken had three stages:
• an initial round of community consultations from April to June.
• a Community Congress in July
• refining recommendations – covering both whole-of-plan issues and specific suggestions for changes to targets – from August to October.
Initial Round of Community Consultations
The initial round of community consultations had the following elements:
• 14 regional consultations at venues across South Australia (‘Talking Regions’)
• meetings structured around the six objectives of SASP (‘Talking Targets’)
• ten public meetings across the state (‘Community Forums’)
• additional presentations to various groups and organisations
• written submissions, including emails and a website survey
Over 1600 South Australians attended the Talking Regions, Community Forums and Talking Targets sessions. Background papers on issues of interest were provided to the participants prior to the meetings. These papers gave a brief description of the intent behind the targets and information on the strategies pursued and progress achieved to date to assist discussion at the meetings. At least one member of the Update Team attended every meeting.
Talking Regions
The Talking Regions sessions, generally consisting of a 10am-4pm Planning Day, were held from April to June 2006. Invitations were sent to a broad range of local leaders representing a broad cross section of the community. Each meeting included the following elements:
• a presentation by Jeff Tryens on regional data and background information relevant to SASP
• presentations by local leaders, who could speak with authority, knowledge and experience on that region’s perspective on key SASP objectives and targets
• a survey of participants to gauge their perceptions of their region’s strengths
• break-out sessions to consider local concerns and actions needed to address these
• identification of the priority issues for the region Approximately 1100 community leaders participated in the Talking Regions meetings. The number ranged from 88 at the Central Metropolitan session to 20 at Maitland, with an overall average of just over 70 per meeting.
Community Forums
The Community Forums were open to any member of the public. They were generally 2-3 hours in length and, in most cases, were held in the evening after the Talking Regions sessions.
The attendance figures at these meetings were low with the largest forum attracting 20 participants, despite fairly good media coverage in the lead-up. Nevertheless, those who did attend were generally actively engaged and the small numbers allowed for detailed discussion on areas of interest and provided some valuable insights. In future, we recommend further consideration of how to engage more people at the ‘grass roots’ level.
Talking Targets
The Talking Targets sessions were held in May 2006 and were structured around each of the six objectives of SASP. Update Team members attended each of the meetings. An appropriate South Australian Government agency designed, managed and led each Talking Targets consultation, providing a forum for stakeholder engagement with the targets in each objective.
Attendance ranged from 90 to 240 participants. The format included plenary sessions and smaller workshops and discussion groups on particular issues, SASP targets and potential strategies and actions.
Other Presentations
Jeff Tryens, Tanya Smith and others made numerous additional presentations in order to reach groups that were not well represented at the consultation sessions outlined above. These included presentations to the Urban Development Institute of Australia Board, the Property Council of South Australia, Aboriginal communities, the Multicultural Council and workshops with an Entrepreneur of the Year group. Forums were also held with the support of the Office for Public Employment, the Institute of Public Administration Australia and the Office for Youth.
Other Submissions
45 written submissions were also received from South Australian organisations. Many were of substantial length covering a large number of areas and containing detailed comments. In addition, 164 web-based questionnaires were completed; and 160 other comments were made through email, SMS, hotline or post as part of the process. Detailed submissions were also made by state government agencies, representing a further source of valuable and considered comments.
Focus on the Future
A joint initiative between the Department of Education and Children's Services and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, the Focus on the Future: Have Your Say competition provided an opportunity for South Australian students from Reception to Year 12 to have a say in the future of their state as part of the community engagement process. Teacher packs were made available to all schools to enable awareness of the plan to be integrated into the school curriculum. Around one hundred high-quality digital presentations were received from across the state. A selected number of the winning entries were screened at the Community Congress.
The Community Congress
The Community Congress was held on 8 July 2006 at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Invitations were sent to all who had participated in the process to date. The Congress attracted approximately 400 participants, including many senior people from community groups, the business sector, state and local government.
The Update Team put a series of ‘propositions’ to the Congress, reflecting ten recurring themes we had identified through the initial round of community consultations, and covering a range of whole-of-plan issues as well as suggestions for changes to specific targets.
The Congress confirmed that the Update Team’s propositions were an accurate representation of the issues raised in the community consultations. Congress participants were also able to consider and comment on the first progress report on SASP which had been released by the SASP Audit Committee in June 2006. A series of workshops in the afternoon of the Congress also began the process of prioritising the recommendations for changes to targets.
Refining Recommendations
Following the Community Congress, the Update Team formed eleven working groups to refine recommendations on how to improve the plan and ensure that it better reflects the current priorities of the South Australian community. Working groups were formed for each of the six objectives of the plan to refine specific suggestions for changes to targets. In addition, five whole-of-plan working groups were created to look at the following issues: community engagement (including governance and regionalising the plan); a vision statement; key interactions across the plan; increasing the profile of Aboriginal issues; and a data measurement group to act as a resource for the other working groups.
Members of the Update Team co-chaired each of the working groups. Over 200 people from disparate sectors of the community were involved in the working groups. Ministerial advisers and state government officers were also involved in many of the working groups. In their deliberations the groups were asked to draw on both the community engagement outcomes and the recommendations of the SASP Audit Committee’s SASP Progress Report 2006. An executive officer from a relevant government agency supported each of the working groups. The working groups provided reports to the Update Team in early October. These reports have formed the basis of the Update Team’s final recommendations to ExComm which are outlined in the Community Engagement Report.
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