Connect, unite and prosper
IAP2 Australasia Advocacy
IAP2 Australasia has been working hard to identify opportunities for us to become the ‘go-to organisation’ for all matters that impact our practice in relation to community engagement and public participation.
There were two recent opportunities for IAP2 Australasia to develop an advocacy position and provide a submission to the requests for feedback from the following Government departments:
December 2018
Responses to the Department of Planning and Environment NSW – Draft Community Participation Plan:
View IAP2 Australasia’s response here
We also took the opportunity to work with the Planning Institute of Australia NSW and provided a letter of support for their submission.
View IAP2 Australasia’s letter of support here
August 2018
Response to Western Australia’s Review of the Local Government Act 1995
View IAP2 Australasia’s response here
We encourage our members to help us identify any future advocacy opportunities, please contact Membership Relations Manager, Michelle Caruso in the first instance on michelle@iap2.org.au.
Connect, Unite & Prosper
There are many ways for you to connect with other IAP2 Australasia members through the various programs that are now available.
Pitch for the Practice Update
Pitch for the Practice afforded members the opportunity to have their say about new programs they would like to see as part of their IAP2 Australasia membership. We are pleased to see two of the successful Pitch for the Practice programs launched toward the end of last year. They were the Mentoring Program and Communities of Practice; each program had a great response with more expressions of interest than opportunities available. We would like to thank our members for their interest.
Communities of Practice
There were three Communities of Practice established from the Expressions of Interest received, they were Infrastructure, Environment & Sustainability and Emergency Management. Each Community of Practice has up to 15 members from across Australasia and they have already had their first meetings at the end of last year.
Mentoring Program
Our 25 mentors and mentees have connected and are well on their way to enriching their engagement experiences through the mentoring program.
Local Network Roadshow
Our CEO Marion Short and I undertook a Local Network Roadshow, our goal was to attend the majority of pre-Christmas events held across Australasia where we had a great opportunity to connect with members at the grassroots of our practice. Our objective was to meet with members and learn about how we can build our local networks in 2019 to encourage more members to attend and enjoy networking, learn, share stories and gain knowledge from their peers. Our IAP2A Community Survey and Ideas Tree from the conference have given us insight and understanding as to the issues that impact our members. We look forward to using your themes and topics in addition to our roadshow feedback when organising speakers for our local networks.
What’s in store for 2019?
There will be two ways you can connect in 2019 with your local networks, through our “Pillar” and “In the Trenches” events.
Pillar events will be larger events either hosted or sponsored by our members with special guest speakers on topical issues affecting the practice. These will generally be held between 2-3 times per year across the major City Centres and once per year in regional centres where we have established local networks. Our first Pillar event for 2019 kicked off in Brisbane on 5th February and was sold out within the week. Thanks to Queensland Urban Utilities (QUU) for hosting this event for our IAP2 Australasia Brisbane local network. We are bang on topic receiving high interest from practitioners across the region to attend.
In the Trenches events provide a more traditional social way of connecting, where you will have the opportunity to ‘chew the fat’ with peers. They will generally be held in addition to our Pillar events, around 1-2 times per year across major city centres and regional centres where we have established local networks.
We are seeking expressions of interest to either host or sponsor our Pillar or In the Trenches events, so if you are interested please contact membership@iap2.org.au for more details.
IAP2 Australasia Community Survey 2018 Update
We heard you! Thanks so much for having your say in our recent IAP2 Australasia Community Survey. The results are now in and the Research Working Group (our mighty volunteers) are in the process of analysing the data to create meaningful insight to your responses. We should have the full results available soon.
Michelle Caruso
Membership Relations Manager, IAP2 Australasia