IAP2 Australasia’s Advocacy Initiatives: September Update

September 2023

Whilst in Canberra attending the NCEIF Forum, Tony and I, together with Timmy, took the opportunity to make our way to Parliament House. We met with the office of Minister Bowen – Minister for Climate Change and Energy, and the office of Minister King – Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.

A key strategic goal for IAP2 Australasia is for engagement to be embedded into policy and regulatory frameworks. In addition, we are calling for engagement professionals to be included as technical experts on advisory groups, providing the IAP2 definition of engagement and offering capability building through our highly-regarded Certificate of Engagement. You can read more about our advocacy in our “Advocacy Recommendations and Calls to Action”.

Marion Short – CEO, Tony Clark – Chair and Timmy (Tony’s guide dog) outside Parliament House, Canberra.

There is a lot of energy about engagement coming from the energy sector with the Community Engagement Review underway being led by Andrew Dyer, the Australian Energy Commissioner. The report is due to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy in December 2023. As energy is such a challenging and important topic, we have included a great panel that represent different parts of the energy eco-system on the Conference program ‘Energising the future’ – a must attend for those of you working in the sector.

IAP2 Australasia is currently providing feedback to the National Partnership Agreement – Infrastructure to include a requirement for engagement in alignment with the IAP2 Quality Assurance Standard for Community and Stakeholder Engagement. We have also joined the Urban Policy Consultation Network (by invitation) and intend to make a submission on the proposed National Urban Policy.

We have been building a positive relationship with the Australian Public Service (APS) Reform Office, which has included contributing to the development of their purpose statement and supporting the development of principles for the draft Charter of Partnerships and Engagement.

As IAP2 Australasia embarks on this next level our advocacy journey I have been really struck by the range of views on what is engagement. So, there is a big education piece of work ahead of us – and I think it starts with the IAP2 definition of engagement – which I thought I would share here:

“Engagement is the intentional process with a specific purpose of working across organisations, stakeholders and communities to shape the decisions or actions of members of the community, stakeholders or organisation in relation to a problem, opportunity or outcome.”

The Voice Referendum is scheduled for 14 October – just before the Conference. IAP2 Australasia has chosen to support the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the Indigenous Voice to Parliament as it aligns with our Core Values and purpose. As part of our commitment to members and to contribute to authentic engagement on the debate, we have developed ‘the Voice Debate Educational Series’ for members as a resource for you and the work you do in and with communities – we hope you find them helpful.

We look forward to sharing further advocacy updates with you.

Marion Short, CEO, IAP2 Australasia