Shire satisfaction sees significant decline

DESPITE Golden Plains Shire ranking below the state average for community satisfaction, councillors passed a motion their December meeting saying their engagement program was a success.

Results from the Victorian Government 2023 Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey showed Golden Plains Shire performed well below the State average, with a score of 43 out of 100.

It was the lowest score for the Shire in the history of the survey.

The statewide average for the same period sat at 56 and for large rural municipalities it was 52.

Golden Plains Shire’s score dropped by eight since 2022, when the result was 51 out of 100, in what the research team called this a significant decline.

Mayor Cr Brett Cunningham said while the results were not ideal, council has been consulting with the community.

“I found some of the results I suppose disappointing to read,” he said.

“This councillor group has actually undertaken more community engagement than any other council and we’ve had things in the past like coffee with a councillor, so we’ve done a lot of community consultation.

“What some of those results show to me is that it’s okay to do community consultation but part of that is taking on board the feedback that we’ve received.”

Despite these results, a majority of councillors voted for a motion at their last regular meeting lauding the Shire’s community engagement program.

They also voted to have the same engagement format in 2024 year with two listening posts, and engagement opportunities related to the draft budget.

Crs Les Rowe, Owen Sharkey and Helena Kirby voted against the motion.

Cr Cunningham said the current format involves being available for community engagement in places where people are likely to be, like community markets.

“For me getting out, I speak to a lot of people, and I think with our comms team we’ve targeted… places where there is going to be foot traffic,” he said.

“If we’re at the farmers market in Bannockburn and Smythesdale we’re getting a lot of people turn out, so I thought we were getting a good number of people.

“I think it [the community engagement program] was successful in that we are marking ourselves more accessible than ever before.”