COUNCILS are being encouraged to undertake community consultation online as part of a project to allow more residents to have a say in local government decision-making.The Community Panel initiative, developed by the University of South Australia`s Ehrenberg-Bass Institute in partnership with the Local Government Association of South Australia, could be adopted nationally. Five SA city councils are running the pilot, which started earlier this year, with more than 1000 residents signed up to online communities.
The councils of Burnside, Tea Tree Gully, Unley, Whyalla, and Coorong district have recruited residents of all ages and backgrounds to join their panels to create an online community of people that is geographically and demographically representative of the population of regions.
Ehrenberg-Bass Sustainable Marketing Research Group head Anne Sharp said the pilot was prompted by the need for a better way to research and consult with local communities.
"For a long time, everyone has been disappointed in the traditional community consultation methods. They tend to get the various vocal residents, but there are lots of people who could still have very valuable input but are excluded because it is hard to get to a town hall at 5pm on a week night," Dr Sharp said.
"They still have an important contribution to make, and this is giving them a voice."
The councils have experimented with surveys and community consultations through the online panels. "We email them and say we have a survey we would like them to participate in and we have had 90 per cent response rates," Dr Sharp said.
Guidelines being developed as part of the pilot project would help other councils join the program, with the aims of technology sharing, benchmarking and cost saving, Dr Sharp said.
