The Banyule Community ThinkTank is a group of community representatives coming together to learn and discuss issues in detail over a series of sessions.

The ThinkTank will be made up of between 43 and 50 participants who represent the diversity of the Banyule’s communities. The ThinkTank is a way for Banyule community members to work through complex matters that affect their everyday lives.

This type of community engagement is called 'deliberative engagement'. For more information on this approach, check out the question 'What is deliberative engagement?' below.

You must live in Banyule, own a business in Banyule or pay rates in Banyule to be eligible to be a member of the Community ThinkTank.

You are not eligible if you were previously a Banyule City Council councillor, if you intend to nominate for the Council election in October 2024, or if there is concern on the part of Council officers that your participation might lead to a conflict of interest.

The selection of participants for the Community ThinkTank will be managed by Council. Council will look to ensure that the ThinkTank is representative of Banyule’s diversity.

A random and stratified selection process will be applied to all eligible expressions of interest to ensure the that the ThinkTank represents, to the best of its ability, a 'mini Banyule'. For detail on the process and program used to select participants, go to the newDemocracy website.

While we would love everyone to be part of the Community ThinkTank, not all people who express interest will be selected.

Having a random and representative group of 50 community members form Thinktank will help to make sure that the group's views and experience are diverse and representative of the broader community.

Definition from Deliberative Engagement for Victorian Councils, MosaicLab, which can be found at this link.

'Deliberation is a long and careful consideration or discussion. Public deliberation, when used with the term ‘democracy’, describes a group of everyday people considering relevant facts from multiple points of view, identifying options, and coming to a group decision.

The deliberative group [the ThinkTank] is randomly selected through an independent process that ensures they are descriptively representative of the demographics of the general population.

Deliberative democracy, or public deliberation, is all about placing people (citizens, residents, affected individuals) closer to the affairs of government. It is being used in many countries to complement representative democracy; to provide elected representatives with well-informed advice on complex issues.'

Council will look to the ThinkTank for advice, innovation and ideas to respond to challenges that Council and the people of Banyule are facing.

ThinkTank members' advice will be incorporated into final decisions to the maximum extent possible.

After consideration, Council will publicly respond to each of the ThinkTank's recommendations.

The ThinkTank will meet for around 24 hours of in-person sessions over five months, from July to November 2024. Participants should be able to commit to all sessions.

Session 1 - Finding our Feet!
Saturday 20 July 2024, 9.30am - 4pm

Let’s get to know each other and understand the problem.

Session 2 - What stands out as important?
Saturday 10 August, 9.30am - 4pm

Let’s look at the information provided and talk about what’s important to us.

Session 3 - Ideas
Saturday 31 August, 9.30am - 4pm

Let’s come up with some innovative ideas and actions to respond to the data and the problem.

Session 4 - Recommendations
Saturday 30 November, 9.30am - 2pm

Let’s refine our ideas to provide recommendations to the Mayor, councillors and the CEO.

It's important that ThinkTank members have access to information to support their thinking.

The pre-reading shouldn't be thought of as homework, but as a way of supporting ThinkTank members to engage with each other to come up with recommendations.

To acknowledge ThinkTank members for their time and participation, Council will offer each member one (1) of the following gifts:

• $350 in gift vouchers ($100 each for Sessions 1, 2 and 3 + $50 for Session 4)
• A multi-pass entry to a Council leisure facility (Ivanhoe Aquatic or Olympic Leisure Centre)
• $350 donation to the Banyule Community Fund ($100 each for Sessions 1, 2 and 3 + $50 for Session 4).

A gift will be offered under the following conditions:

• The person is a Banyule Community ThinkTank member
• The person attends the sessions.

Following agreement with Council officers, Council will also support ThinkTank members to cover any out-of- pocket expenses, such as childcare or transport, to be able to attend the sessions.

For the ThinkTank to be most successful, we'd love it if ThinkTank members could attend all sessions. We understand, though, that life happens and you might be forced to miss a session.

If this happens, you will only receive a Reward for Participation for the sessions that you attend. This means that if you attend Session 1, Session 2 and Session 4, you will be offered a gift to the value of $250.

Gift is defined under ‘ThinkTank - Reward for Participation’ in these Frequently Asked Questions.

Yes. Before the first session all Community ThinkTank members will receive a welcome pack that includes key information. We will also provide presentations at Session 1 on key topics to support the ThinkTank with their discussions and coming up with recommendations.

Council's job will be to continue to provide ThinkTank members with the information it needs to come up with relevant recommendations.

No. Your thoughts, opinions and ideas are all you need, but we would like you to read the background information provided in the welcome pack. You also need to be able to attend all sessions.

To express your interest in joining Banyule’s Community ThinkTank, complete the Expression of Interest form on this page.

If you would prefer to complete a paper form, please call Customer Service on 9490 4222 to send you one. Or drop into Greensborough or Ivanhoe Customer Service to pick one up.

The Expression of Interest for the ThinkTank will close on Sunday 28 April 2024.

Council will select participants and confirm with people that they are still available to participate in May 2024.

All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their expression of interest by June 2024.

We will share the journey and outcomes of the Banyule Community ThinkTank process, and the work of the Thinktank, on Shaping Banyule.

Click ‘follow’ on the Banyule Futures project page on Shaping Banyule to stay up to date.

Banyule Futures won't end with the ThinkTank.

If you apply to be a ThinkTank member and are not successful, there will a survey + local activations and workshops starting from May for you to contribute to the project.

Click 'follow' at the top of the page to make sure you don't miss out on other engagement opportunities.