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Community engagement provides opportunities for everyone in Yarra to have their say. It builds genuine support for our policies and programs, improves the way we plan and deliver services and encourages trust in Council processes and decisions.

Community Engagement Policy

Yarra City Council's Community Engagement Policy 2026-2029 outlines our principles and approach to engagement, identifies when we will seek feedback from the community and sets clear standards for how we engage, how we promote opportunities to participate and how we report back on engagements.

Our first Community Engagement Policy was developed in 2020. Under the Local Government Act 2020, Councils across Victoria are required to renew our policies every 4 years. In 2024, we reviewed and updated our Policy to ensure it aligned with the Yarra Council Plan 2025-2029, our Community Vision, other legislative requirements and current best practice engagement.   

In November and December 2025, we consulted the Yarra community on the new draft Community Engagement Policy and received some valuable insights that helped us to finalise the policy. Read more about this consultation.

Our Community Engagement Policy contains an 'Engagement Matrix for Council activities' guide, which categorises the different types of projects undertaken by Council and outlines the engagement approach and typical engagement activities to expect for each category.

Our engagement principles

The Local Government Act 2020 (section 55) outlines 5 engagement principles that must be met by all Victorian Councils.

We have built upon the 5 principles in the Local Government Act to include an additional 2 principles as well as a commitment statement outlining our promise to the community for each principle. The commitment statements for Principle 6 and 7 are based on community feedback received during consultation on the draft Policy.

The principles and commitments below ensure that community engagement at Yarra is purposeful, representative, and easy to be involved in.

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