PROGRAM SNAPSHOTDECEMBER 2014

PROGRAM SNAPSHOTDECEMBER 2014

BETTER TOGETHER

yourSAy.sa.gov.au /YourFutureSA

BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING

What is BETTER TOGETHER? 3Progress by numbers 4Program highlights 6 Fund My Idea 8 Country Cabinet 8 Citizens’ Jury 9 Schools as Community Hubs 10 YourSAy Online Consultations Hub 11 Simplify 11 Unleashed 12 Branding South Australia 12 Better Together Challenge 13Working with other organisations 14Has Better Together been effective? 15Where to from here? 16Connecting through social media 17

CONTENTS

2 BETTER TOGETHER

BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKINGBETTER TOGETHER

Better Together enables the South Australian Government to make better decisions by bringing the voices of citizens and stakeholders into the issues that are relevant to them.The Better Together: Principles of Engagement guide was launched in 2013. This document is the policy for citizen engagement across the South Australian public sector. It provides an at-a-glance guide to best practice.Over the last two years, Better Together has stimulated and guided a range of projects across the public sector, as well as collaborations between government and non-government organisations.These projects now form part of the Better Together program. Initiatives such as YourSAy, Country Cabinet, Simplify, Fund my Idea, Unleashed (open data initiative), GovChat, Brand SA consultations and the Citizens’ Juries have proven to be well regarded and cost-effective mechanisms to inform policy and program development.In addition to demonstration projects, the Better Together program offers public sector employees practical support for better engagement practice through consultancy advice, training, promotion and access to tools such as YourSAy.Better Together has also been the foundation for a range of projects run from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, often in collaboration with other organisations.

NEW TO BETTER TOGETHER? WATCH THIS SHORT VIDEO.

WHAT IS BETTER TOGETHER?

It has been almost two years since Better Together started and it is time to review progress.This report provides a snapshot of this important Government initiative as at December 2014.It looks at:· how many people the program reaches· how many people have interacted with Better Together· the projects and events that have been conducted to trial and embed greater public participation in the decisions of the Government· the partnerships that have made these projects a success· the support that is offered to government agencies to improve public participation in Government decision-making.At the end of this report, you can find details about how members of the public and public sector employees can get involved in Better Together.

HOW ARE WE GOING?

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BETTER TOGETHER BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING

PROGRESS BY THE NUMBERS

In December 2014 a point-in-time estimate was made of how many people had interacted with Better Together since the launch of the Better Together Principles in March 2013.

These figures did not include attendances and interactions for all projects and events as not all such interactions were recorded.

Categories of interaction were not mutually exclusive – people may have participated in more than one activity.

PEOPLE HAD DIRECTLYINTERACTED BETTER TOGETHER PROGRAM, NOT JUST RECEIVED INFORMATION

UNIQUE USERS HAD VISITED THE

WEBSITE IN JUST FIVE

MONTHS2019 COMMENTS

WERE RECEIVED ON YOURSAY CONSULTATIONS B E T W E E N MARCH 2013 AND DECEMBER 2014

87,500 54,000 WITH

THE

INFORMATION ABOUT THE BETTER TOGETHER PROGRAM IS SEEN ON FACEBOOK BY UP TO 163,000 ACCOUNTS PER MONTH

BETTER TOGETHER PROGRAMS HAVE OFTEN BEEN TRENDINGTOPICS ON TWITTER.INFORMATION CAN REACH UP TO 134,000 TWITTER ACCOUNTS PER MONTH

FACE

BOOK

TWIT

TER

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PEOPLE HAD REGISTERED TO BE INVOLVED AND PROVIDED THEIR CONTACT DETAILS FOR FURTHER PARTICIPATION

VOTES HAD BEEN CAST FOR

FUNDING COMMUNITY PROJECTS PRESENTED IN

I DEAS SUBMITTED TO S I M P L I F Y TO REDUCE RED TAPE

12,300

PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES HAD ATTENDED TRAINING TO DEVELOP THEIR SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING OFCOMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT THROUGH THE LEARN AND LEAD

PROGRAM

550 300

HOW MANY PROJECTS HAVE BEEN DELIVERED?

PEOPLE HAD ATTENDED THE SHOWCASE EVENTS, WHICH DEMONSTRATE

GOOD PRACTICEIN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

660

delivered, either by the Better Together team of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet or in partnership with other agencies, non-government organisations or local councils in eighteen months.

THE YOURSAY ONLINE ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM HEARD FROM 8,500 PEOPLE

IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA ON 103 ISSUES

THE HASHTAG WAS A TRENDING TOPIC ANDREGISTERED MORE THAN 2 MILLION TWITTER IMPRESSIONS DURING THE CITIZENS’ JURY ON SHARING THE ROADS SAFELY

#CITIZENSJURY700

171 PROJECTS AND EVENTS

PEOPLE HAD JOINED THE LINKEDIN COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

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PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

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THE PROCESS CHALLENGED US TO BROADEN OUR THINKING, TO KNOW THE FACTS AND TO CHALLENGE OUR ASSUMPTIONS – I THINK WE ALL HAD OPINIONS THAT WERE CHANGED AS A RESULT.

CITIZEN JUROR, 2014

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BETTER TOGETHER

BETTER TOGETHER BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING

Country Cabinet is an initiative that sees the South Australian Premier and Cabinet Ministers visit three regional communities per year.The Better Together team drives this process, which allows the Government to hear from local people about the matters affecting them and their communities.

Country Cabinet is more than simply visiting a specific place. It involves an extensive pre-engagement process with people in the region before the ministry arrives, as well as a robust process to ensure that the Government is held accountable to respond to what it hears.

The Better Together team collects feedback on the issues raised during Country Cabinet, from events held during the visit and from issues raised by the community online.

Agencies must provide a response to the issues they are responsible for and the Government reports back to the community within 90 days of Country Cabinet occurring.

Fund My Idea puts decision-making in the hands of country communities.As part of Country Cabinet, the program offers communities grant funding of up to $50,000 for one or more projects that benefit the local community. The community proposes the project ideas and, through the YourSAy website, votes on which ideas should be funded. The first two rounds of Fund My Idea have received a total of 9,700 votes and four community-driven projects have been funded.

yoursay.sa.gov.au/fundmyideaFIND OUT MORE

yoursay.sa.gov.au/yoursay/riverland-country-cabinet-response-released FIND OUT MORE

The trial program of a pop-up Hub in the Riverland is evidence that the Country Cabinet meetings are working and the Weatherill Government is listening to the concerns of regional communities.

Tony Siviour, Chief Executive Officer, Renmark Paringa Council

Berri club bowled over with relocation becoming a reality.

ABC News, 9/7/2014

1,030 COMMUNITY MEMBERS HAVE ATTENDED THE FIRST 3COUNTRY CABINETS FOR FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS

AN ESTIMATED

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The purpose of a Citizens’ Jury is to bring the considered judgment of everyday people to bear on complex issues. Juries are particularly useful where debates have become polarised. They can help to improve public trust in decision-making.Members of the Juries are randomly and independently selected to represent the community’s voice on an issue.

The Better Together program has delivered two Citizens’ Juries. In 2013 a Jury considered ‘How can we ensure we have a vibrant and safe Adelaide nightlife?’ In October 2014 a Jury deliberated on ‘Motorists and cyclists will always be using our roads. What can we trial to ensure they share the roads safely?’

The recommendations from the Juries are considered by the Government. The Government’s response, including plans for implementation, is tabled in Parliament. Progress on the actions is reported quarterly on the YourSAy website.

A full independent evaluation of the first Jury program has been undertaken by the Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI) and is available on the YourSAY web site.

The second Jury program will also be evaluated by TACSI.

FIND OUT MORE

Across the stakeholders interviewed, one of the most universally impressive features of the Citizens’ Jury experience was the recognition of the value of the intelligence and experiences of everyday people.Verdicts on the Jury, TACSI

I took part in something that might even go down in history. It’ll be written somewhere where it says they had the first democratic Jury in Adelaide in July 2013. I was part of bringing ideas forward to create a safer, more vibrant nightlife in Adelaide. Juror, 2013

All of them [jurors] in the room had a real sense of responsibility. I don’t know whether that was usual, but I was blown away by it.Public servant, 2013

No matter what side of politics is in, if it’s run by Government, there’s always that danger of being sanitised or protected, even when you want to be genuine. It’s just the nature of the system. Having newDemocracy as a partner gave it independence and credibility.Public servant, 2013

yoursay.sa.gov.au/citizens-jury

38 FORMAL SUBMISSIONS6,000 PAGE VIEWS ON YOURSAY120 COMMENTS FROM37 CONTRIBUTORS2 MILLION IMPRESSIONS OF #CITIZENSJURY ON TWITTER

CITIZENS’ JURY ON SHARING THE ROADS SAFELY

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WE SAW DEMOCRACY AT WORK – NOT

PEOPLE DRAWING LINES IN THE SAND,

BUT INSTEAD ENGAGING IN DEBATE,

DISCUSSION, ARGUMENT AND THE

SEARCH FOR CONSENSUS

JUROR, 2014

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BETTER TOGETHER BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING

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BETTER TOGETHER BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING

Schools as Community Hubs aims to broaden the use of school facilities. There is increasing interest from communities in using school facilities. The South Australian Government is committed to ensuring that communities are able to access schools to build stronger social networks in order to enhance student learning and community wellbeing. A community forum was held and over 130 people from government, local councils, schools, social services, members of Parliament, the sport and recreation sector and community groups gathered to talk about the opportunities to share school facilities. Participants were eager to explore the issues and to be part of the solutions. In addition, Better Together heard from forum participants, online bloggers and emailers who identified a number of strategies for sharing school facilities. In response, the Government appointed representatives to an Action Group to achieve this.

The Action Group has been tasked with developing a number of creative strategies to increase the number of schools sharing their facilities after hours. A LinkedIn community group has attracted 140 members, a website has been established to enable greater awareness of the initiative and to enable a platform where stakeholders and the community can share their stories and access information and resources. Work is now being undertaken on developing an agreed policy position, a digital tool that enables users to access school facilities and resources for sharing school facilities. This project is now ready to be transferred to the Department of Education and Child Development for further action and implementation.

yoursay.sa.gov.au/schools-hub-homeFIND OUT MORE

COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE MEMBERS ON LINKEDIN

PEOPLE ATTENDED A COMMUNITY FORUM

WHO IS INVOLVED? 140

130

12 BETTER TOGETHER

The community and the public sector shared their ideas on reducing red tape through an online forum, emails and written submissions via Government service centres. They then voted on the top ideas through the YourSAy website.Of the 700 ideas submitted, the main themes were:

· reducing red tape around the internal workings of Government· Government’s interaction with the community· improving efficiency for business.

The Government is now acting on the top 20 ideas.

YourSAy brings the community’s voice into Government decision-making through an online platform.YourSAy is different from other government sites. It acts as a central point of contact and collaboration for all departments, as well as for the community to have its say on many issues.

The community has jumped on board. The site has attracted thousands of registered users since it was revamped in July 2014.

At December 2014 the YourSAy site had hosted 103 consultations, received 54,000 unique web users and 314,000 page views in just five months.

Connecting with the community on social media has also been an important part of the citizen engagement process.

YourSAy is now also providing information about consultation outcomes.

yoursay.sa.gov.au/yoursayFIND OUT MORE

yoursay.sa.gov.au/simplifyFIND OUT MORE

ONLINE CONSULTATIONS HUB

THE GOVERNMENT’S RED TAPE REDUCTION INITIATIVE

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BETTER TOGETHER BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING

The Better Together team brought the community and the business sector together to develop a new brand for the entire State, which could be used and adapted by any South Australian citizen, business or organisation. Participants considered a range of questions about the branding of the state: What makes South Australia unique? What does our image say about who we are, what we think and how we live? Do we have a profile outside of South Australia that promotes what we produce and attracts people to come here?

The brand is now managed by Brand South Australia, a not-for-profit, member-based organisation that connects with the South Australian Government, media and businesses to promote confidence and pride in South Australia’s creativity, innovation and industriousness.

Unleashed was started in South Australia by a group of partners led by the Better Together team, as a project to engage the hacker community in creating innovative uses for Government data.Unleashed is now South Australia’s annual open data competition and part of the GovHack national competition. Over 100 digital creators participate in Unleashed.

The competition brings together anyone who has an interest in unlocking the potential of data including entrepreneurs, coders, web and application developers, graphic designers, journalists and researchers. Teams work together to create new mashups, data visualisations and apps using open data from government, research and industry.

Unleashed is now managed by the Office for Digital Government.

uladl.com/FIND OUT MORE

yoursay.sa.gov.au/yoursay/ branding-south-australia

brandsouthaustralia.com.au/

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BRANDING SOUTH AUSTRALIA

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The Challenge encouraged and supported Government agencies to use the Better Together Principles of Engagement to deliver four innovative approaches to engagement within just 90 days.The challenge of delivering a project in 90 days sent a powerful message across Government and the community that the public sector was going to respond promptly to citizen participation.

One Challenge saw the Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources team up with the local council to address the intractable issue of feral animals on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The project had an unexpected but effective outcome - local environmentalists connected with farmers and recreational shooters to reduce populations of feral animals that were damaging the environment.

The Children’s Voice project was delivered through a partnership between the Department for Education and Child Development and the University of South Australia. It aimed to engage children and young people in decision-making in their local communities. The outcome was an internationally-recognised, innovative model of children and young people’s participation. This model of participation is being embedded in Australia’s first accreditation framework for Child Friendly Cities which is being developed by South Australia in partnership with UNICEF Australia. The children and young people’s views from the three communities will contribute to those cities striving to be the first three UNICEF Australia Child Friendly Cities in 2015.

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This is the first time that the Government has ever come and asked us what we want and how we feel. If you’d just come here and told us what to do, I would’ve walked out. But because you asked me, I stayed. Landholder, Better Together Challenge, Safeguard Our Landscapes, Yankalilla Community Forum, September 2013.

yoursay.sa.gov.au/project-1-safeguard-our-landscapes

yoursay.sa.gov.au/better-together-challenge

C H A L L E N G E

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BETTER TOGETHER

BETTER TOGETHER BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING

SHOWCASEThe Better Together Showcase is a series of events featuring thought-provoking guest speakers, engaging presenters and inspiring practitioners who have shaped and influenced engagement practice in South Australia. The intention is to bring new energy, enthusiasm and skills into the engagement community in the public sector and beyond.

660 public servants participated in the first three showcases.

LEARN AND LEADOver 300 public sector employees have been given the opportunity to learn about why Government should engage and be competent and confident to lead community and stakeholder engagement to drive better outcomes for South Australia.

Learn and Lead is a series of six training workshops to explore the Better Together Principles of Engagement. These workshops drill deep into each of the principles, providing insight into what high-quality engagement looks like and how Government can drive a new culture of working hand in hand with citizens. Each series of six workshops has been delivered three times.

There was a huge response to the Learn and Lead training program. There is a real appetite for Government to bring the voices of citizens and stakeholders into genuine community engagement.

The team from Better Together provides advice and support to agencies that are increasing and improving citizen engagement.

WORKING WITH OTHER ORGANISATIONS

BETTER TOGETHER ADVISORY SERVICE

FIND OUT MORE FIND OUT MORE

FIND OUT MORE

yoursay.sa.gov.au/showcase yoursay.sa.gov.au/learn-and-lead

http://yoursay.sa.gov.au/help

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Better Together: Principles of Engagement has been widely used across the South Australian public sector. A total of 171 Better Together projects have demonstrated a range of innovative approaches to public participation.

The public response has been exceptional, demonstrating that the community has a big appetite for direct engagement with the Government.

87,500 people had interacted directly with Better Together between March 2013 and the end of December 2014.

Participants have provided feedback to the Better Together program, indicating that they want to be more involved and contribute more to Government decision- making. The stage is set for an even greater level of public participation in making the important decisions about the future of South Australia.

In summary, the projects have been very successful and each one has provided practical opportunities to learn about why, when and how to engage citizens in the decisions that affect them.

The SA Government’s commitment to debate and decide, and its Better Together policy and programs have been successful in stimulating debate and generating a change in views about the roles of politicians, citizens and public servants.

HAS BETTER TOGETHER BEEN EFFECTIVE?

I had a great experience when working with the jurors on our assigned duty. I would love to do something similar again in the future. Citizen Juror, 2014

If you receive an invitation from the Premier it’s a rare thing to pick out of your postbox. Nobody gets asked these things. It’s a gift. You’ve been asked, you’ve been invited. Something about you was chosen. Even though it’s randomly selected, you feel ‘oh wow, I feel so lucky’.Citizen Juror, 2013

I think I have a lot more respect for politicians. People give them a lot of flak but it’s so hard when you have so many conflicting voices coming at you. The Jury was good for getting the informed voice of the people.Citizen Juror, 2013

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BETTER TOGETHER BRINGING CITIZENS INTO GOVERNMENT DECISION-MAKING

WHERE TO FROM HERE?

STEPPING UP CITIZEN ENGAGEMENTMost Government agencies have trialled improved approaches to citizen engagement since March 2013.

Government agencies are asked to significantly increase citizen engagement across all policies, programs and processes, to ensure that South Australians are involved in the decision-making that affects people’s lives.

MAKING CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT MORE INNOVATIVEThe Better Together team will be trialling a range of new and more innovative approaches to citizen engagement in South Australia and sharing the outcomes of these trials across the public sector.

GOVchat is a community engagement event where the Government opens a special telephone line for two hours to enable South Australians from all walks of life to phone in and chat with senior executives and the Minister on a topic of interest to the community. Four events will be held in 2015. The first, on public transport, will be held on 19 February.

FIND OUT MOREyoursay.sa.gov.au/govchat

STAY TUNED FOR NEW AND MORE INNOVATIVE BETTER TOGETHER PROJECTS IN CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT YOURSAY.SA.GOV.AU

Participatory budgeting will be trialled further to test how the concept might be applied to Government grant programs.

yoursay.sa.gov.au/fund-my-community

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CONNECTING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA

THE YOURSAY FACEBOOK AND TWITTER PAGES ENGAGE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ACROSS SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND BEYOND, PROVIDING REGULAR INFORMATION AND INVOLVING MANY PEOPLE IN ROBUST CONVERSATION ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE STATE.THE TEAM ALSO FACILITATES A COMMUNITY OF ENGAGEMENT PRACTITIONERS THROUGH ITSBETTER TOGETHER LINKEDIN GROUP, PROVIDING A GREAT WAY FOR PROFESSIONALS TO SHARE IDEASAND THOUGHTS ABOUT PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

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BETTER TOGETHERStrategic Engagement and Communications

Department of the Premier and CabinetTel: (08) 8226 6094

BetterTogether@sa.gov.au

16/2/2015

FURTHER ENQUIRIES CAN BE DIRECTED TO:

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