There are three stages for our community engagements:

1. Open: You can get involved and share your feedback.
2. Active: The project is underway but not currently open for participation, and may reopen at a later stage or be awaiting next steps or an outcome.
3. Closed: The engagement has finished and is no longer open for feedback.

You can follow any open or active engagement to receive updates. Simply select the “Follow” button at the top of the page and enter your details.

You’ll receive email updates throughout the project and can unsubscribe at any time.

You don't need to register to explore Melville Talks or participate in most engagement activities.

Some projects, particularly formal public consultations or engagement that requires ongoing participation, may ask you to register or provide some basic contact details. This helps us hear from a broad range of community members, minimise duplicate responses, and keep participants informed about project updates and outcomes.

If you'd like to become part of the Melville Sounding Board, you can create a Melville Talks account and complete your profile by selecting the topics you're interested in. We'll then invite you to participate in engagement opportunities that match your interests.

When you're signed in, your contact details are securely saved, making it quicker and easier to participate in future projects without needing to enter your information each time.

We take our privacy obligations seriously.

We may collect personal information from you when you participate in an engagement. This may inclue your email address, residential address and demographic information. This information is used to analyse engagement results , review communication objectives and obligations, or to communicate information to you about the outcomes of the engagement.

You can find out more on our privacy page.

A public submissions process (also known as public comment, advertising or consultation) is undertaken when a proposal may impact a small, localised community or the broader community. This can include changes to planning schemes (such as rezoning), local planning policies, local laws, structure plans, master plans, or other City strategies.

During this time, submissions from the community and/or stakeholders are sought on the proposal. All submissions are considered as part of the assessment process; however, they do not determine the final decision of the City or Council.

A summary of feedback and/or a submission report may be included in publicly available Council reports or notices. Personal details such as names, addresses or other identifiable information are removed unless consent is provided.

We include demographic questions as part of our engagement to help ensure the feedback we receive reflects our diverse community. This allows us to hear from a broad range of people and tailor how we communicate and engage.

By reviewing this information, we can identify groups who may be underrepresented and improve how we reach and involve them. We also use this data to monitor participation, meet targets and evaluate our engagement activities.

To maintain the integrity of the feedback process, we take steps to prevent duplicate responses and ensure we are capturing a range of views. You can choose not to provide demographic information if you prefer.

Melville Talks is moderated to ensure participants, site administrators and third-parties are safe from malicious, inflammatory and illegal materials.

You can find out more on our moderation page.