Queries over community feedback

An intense community meeting has left questions in its wake about what more could be done to receive greater input from Bunbury residents.

A special electors meeting quickly turned into a farce last week, despite a motion for more public consultation over a proposed civic and cultural precinct successfully being passed.

The meeting was called by council candidate Marina Quain because she believed people were unaware of any plans for a precinct, despite several community engagement sessions.

While Bunbury City Council has completed an online survey and hosted a community workshop on the precinct, both gained little attention. The survey received just 83 responses.

The lack of community engagement prompted several questions during last week’s meeting.

“(The council) has clearly made a good effort to diversify the way it engages with the general public ... my concern is that the public does not engage back and give a quality response,” one Bunbury resident said.

Bunbury chief executive Mal Osborne conceded it was a problem for all councils.

“It’s a problem, I think not only for this local government, but lots of local governments about how to connect with our community,” Mr Osborne said.

“We are trying to be better in the community.

“If anyone has the perfect recipe for community engagement that’s going to guarantee us a very substantial input from our whole community, come and talk to me, because we keep trying lots of different methodologies.

“We have success with different projects with different parts of our community, but I think we do struggle overall.”

Mayor Gary Brennan told the Bunbury Herald that community engagement needed to be a “shared responsibility” and the council welcomed ideas on how to do it better.

“We use social media, we use a raft of channels and mediums, but if there’s more that people would like or if they have suggestions, let’s hear it,” he said.

“We do want to have that continuous engagement with our community.”