This consultation is closed - thanks for having your say!

At the Council Meeting on Tuesday 14 April 2026, Council adopted Yarra’s Community Engagement Policy 2026-2029.

Thanks to everyone who shared feedback during the consultation in November and December last year. Receiving community feedback on how and when Council engages with the community is important to effectively hear and incorporate the voices of community members into future Council initiatives.

Your feedback has helped us to finalise the policy and shape the commitment statements guiding how we will engage with traditionally harder to reach communities as well as how we will report back on engagement results.

Community consultation

We asked you to tell us how you like to have your say, what topics get you talking, and how we can keep you in the loop about future consultations to help make engagement at Yarra work better for everyone.

Yarra City Council’s Community Engagement Policy needs a refresh. Our current Community Engagement Policy and the Community Engagement Action Plan were adopted more than 4 years ago and before the adoption of the Community Vision 2036.

We reviewed and updated the Policy to ensure it aligned with the Yarra Council Plan 2025-2029, our Community Vision including the 2025 Reflection and Update Addendum (PDF), other legislative requirements and current best practice engagement.   

The new draft Community Engagement Policy 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.

Read the Engagement Report to learn more about the engagement results for this consultation.

What do we mean by community engagement?

Community engagement provides opportunities for everyone in Yarra to share their feedback on Council projects or policies. We are committed to meaningful engagement, and we are transparent about the level of influence that the community can have on the final decision or outcome.

Quality community engagement helps Council to make better decisions by understanding lived experiences and responding to community needs. We want to ensure that the community is at the heart of our decision-making.

Principles and commitments

The Local Government Act 2020 (section 55) outlines 5 engagement principles that must be met by all Victorian Councils. The new draft Community Engagement policy includes the 5 principles and we have provided a commitment statement for each principle.

In the draft Community Engagement Policy, we included 2 additional principles that will guide our engagement work over the next 4 years.