Our draft Public Transparency Policy outlines the way council information is made publicly available, addresses the transparency principles and supports us in driving good governance and open and accountable conduct.

In alignment with the Local Government Act 2020, a public transparency policy must:

• give effect to the public transparency principles;
• describe the ways in which Council information is to be made publicly available;
• specify which Council information must be publicly available, including all policies, plans and reports required under this Act or any other Act; and
• include any other matters outlined by the regulations.

We are committed to upholding the public transparency principles, which are:

• Council decision making processes must be transparent except when the Council is dealing with information that is confidential
• Council information must be publicly available unless;
  • the information is confidential; or
  • public availability of the information would be contrary to the public interest;
• Council information must be understandable and accessible to members of the municipal community;
• Public awareness of Council information availability and access.

Our draft Public Transparency Policy allows us to fulfill our requirement under section 57 and 58 of the Local Government Act 2020 and addresses our Council Plan (2017-2021) key objectives - Participation and Performance.

Our draft Public Transparency Policy have been informed by:

• Guidance materials from Local Government Victoria;
• Local Government Victoria networks
• Local Councils

We are also in the process of engaging with:

• Internal council business units,
• All council staff,
• Key stakeholders; and
• Councillors.

We have also taken into consideration the review by the Victorian Ombudsman into the transparency of Local Government decision making in 2016; we implemented a number of these transparency measures in 2016/17.

Our draft Public Transparency Policy review is now closed for feedback.