Public Consultation Toolkit - Civil Service College

Public Consultation Toolkit 13 14 Public Consultation Toolkit
Considerations for facilitating effective partnerships
Agencies can do the following to facilitate effective partnerships:
1. Lead time. When tapping on partners, it is important to provide them with sufficient lead
time to allow the partner agencies to mobilise the necessary resources. Agencies should
provide a minimum of one month’s notice to the partners, and a period of at least three
months for the partners to gather feedback on agencies’ behalf.
2. Information. Agencies should provide partners with comprehensive information so that
they have a good understanding of the policy and its considerations before the consultation
process. This allows the partners to be more effective in addressing the questions raised by
their constituents/members during the actual consultation exercise.
3. Materials. Agencies should generally equip partners with communication materials for the
consultation exercise. This may include briefing slides (with speakers’ notes), pamphlets and
FAQs.
4. Funding and technical support. Agencies can also provide technical assistance (e.g., design
of survey questions) and funding support (e.g., for organising dialogue sessions).
Note: The above are some suggestions but are not exhaustive.
Case 3:
The Living Murray River Restoration
Agency/country:
• Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Australia
Background:
• The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) comprises a large geographical area that spreads across five
states and territories: Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Victoria
and South Australia.
• The landscape of the MDB was under severe ecological stress, with issues such as salinity,
poor water quality, stressed forests, dried wetlands, threatened native species, feral animals
and noxious weeds.
• The Australian government engaged different stakeholders in the restoration of the
cleanliness and health of the MDB.
Consultation Process:
Stakeholders engaged during the consultation exercise included:
• Individuals/organisations who could benefit from the restoration
- Local communities (e.g., landholders, land managers)
- Rural communities (e.g., indigenous people)
• Individuals/organisations who could be adversely affected
- Industry stakeholders, including businesses that depended on the river’s resources as a
form of income (e.g., agricultural farmers)
• Individuals/organisations who had the skills and resources to contribute to river restoration
- Ecological and environmental experts
• Individuals/organisations who were interested in the restoration
- Activists (e.g., land care groups)
- Interest groups and individuals who had an interest in the river’s health