Community consultation and the 'hard to reach': concepts and practice in Victorian local government

This report documents the first year of the Community Consultation and the ‘Hard to Reach’: Local government, social profiling and civic infrastructure project. This three year project is a collaborative research venture supported by the Australian Research Council, being undertaken by the Institute for Social Research at Swinburne University of Technology in partnership with eight local councils and the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA). Partner councils are the Cities of Boroondara, Darebin, Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Moreland, Nillumbik, Port Phillip and Whittlesea. The research presented here about communities that can be hard to reach for consultation purposes should be useful for Australian local government, the community sector, non-government organisations, tertiary institutions and the state government.