Advocacy

How we advocate

Advocacy is where we publicly voice our support for projects and policies to other levels of government, peak bodies, industry and non-government groups, and community advocacy groups.

We develop our advocacy priorities and activities by actively engaging with you. Our advocacy priorities and strategies are outlined in the Council Plan 2021–2025 [PDF].

We provide civic leadership in advocating to the Australian and Victorian Governments. We work closely with our local Members of Parliament to address the issues that affect our shared communities.

We aim to deliver well informed and transparent decisions and highly valued services by ensuring that our priorities are organised, cohesive and transparent for both Council and community awareness.

Why we advocate

Council is committed to delivering the projects that matter to you, and to helping to bring about the urgent policy reforms you want to see.

While Council has a bold and ambitious agenda for our City, we can’t deliver it alone. We want to partner with the Australian and Victorian Governments to help us to fund local projects, and to make significant policy reforms.

We advocate to maximise opportunities to pursue Council and community priorities through proactive and timely engagement with external stakeholders. This raises awareness and creates opportunities to inform and shape policy that benefits Glen Eira residents.

In 2023–2024, Council’s advocacy was successful in securing $2 million in new funding for local projects, including initiatives enhancing road safety and open space. Along with the longstanding efforts of other councils and community groups, we also successfully advocated for five policy reforms aimed at improving community outcomes.

Council is committed to leading sector-wide conversations on the need for reform to ensure that local councils remain financially sustainable in the long term.

What we advocate for

We have worked with you to understand the priorities which are important to you, and you want other levels of government to work with us to deliver.

Our advocacy campaigns are based on policy and strategy positions that are supported by evidence and data. Our Priority advocacy projects 2024–2025 [PDF 9.8Mb] were endorsed by Council on 25 June 2024.

In 2024–2025, Council has renewed its focus on the key priority areas of:

• sustainability
• liveability
• community wellbeing
• sector reform, including the financial sustainability of local government.

Under each of these priorities, Council has identified the projects we want to see funded and the policies we want to see reformed.

The advocacy priorities for 2024–2025 focus on Council’s top priorities, using data to back our initiatives and working closely with other government levels. There are some updates to strengthen efforts in areas like open space, homelessness, mental health, family violence, and flood mitigation.

Regional advocacy

We partner with other councils, peak bodies and community advocacy groups to collaborate on issues important to the community, where the reforms required go beyond our municipal boundary. Partnering where there are regional or sector-wide issues helps to raise awareness, combine resources, and enhance the voice of local government. Find out more at our regional advocacy webpage.

Our policy

In April 2022, Council endorsed our Advocacy policy [PDF 179KB]. Our policy aims to provide direction and guidance for Council’s advocacy efforts ensuring it works in partnership with the community to influence public policy and resource allocation decisions for the benefit of Glen Eira.

How to get involved and have your say

We welcome community ideas, input and feedback. We want to strengthen relationships and build a better understanding of your needs and views, to inform our advocacy activities. We do this by engaging with you on our strategies, plans and priorities. Get involved to have your say and share your ideas and opinions by visiting our Have Your Say website.