Annual Report 2019-20

Never before have we had to engage as closely with our stakeholders as we did in 2019–20.

Our engagement renewal began in 2017–18 with a new stakeholder engagement framework.

Designed to provide all our stakeholders with a range of ways to contribute to our work, the framework uses multiple methods to support our work program.

Encompassing our charter of consultation and regulatory practice, required by our primary legislation, the framework aims to promote consistency of practice and excellence across the commission.

Our work

 

2019–20: the framework in practice

2019–20 saw us build on the framework. We introduced an internal ‘engagement hub’ on our intranet to support our staff in their engagement work and began using Engage Victoria for our public engagement efforts, including for receiving submissions, as a matter of course.

Engage Victoria

Using Engage Victoria gives Victorians easier access to understanding and responding to our work. Throughout the year we received more than 260 responses or feedback to our work.

Engaging during coronavirus –adaption and growth

As coronavirus hit Victoria, we moved to adapt all our engagement activities, events and training to virtual and online platforms. This included hosting webinars, online meetings and workshops and exploring other ways to use our Engage Victoria pages.

Between March and June, we held 28 events with more than 1,200 people registering to attend.

We wanted to understand the impact of coronavirus on our sectors and Victorians and worked extensively on bringing useful, accessible and relevant engagement events to an online world.

Beyond 2020

To continue to improve our engagement performance, we will be looking at:

• monitoring and evaluating our engagement consistently
• maintaining our agility and adaptability of our engagement practices.