Transparency is at the core of Townsville City Council’s day-to-day processes and operations, with the organisation championing this week’s 2021 International Access to Information Day theme “open by design: government transparency everyone can see”.
Business Services and Finance Committee chairperson Margie Ryder said there were several tools in place for Council to uphold its high commitment to transparency.
“Council is committed to presenting the facts to people who live and work in Townsville, as well as for people further afield who are considering making Townsville their home or starting a business here,” Cr Ryder said.
“Council not only hosts its own information-sharing services, including Townsville Dashboards, the Disaster Dashboard, Have Your Say Townsville, ePlanning and livestreams of our Council meetings, but we also work with external agencies to ensure a high level of transparency.
“Some of those agencies include the Australian Government’s Open Data, the Queensland Audit Office, and the Office of the Information Commissioner.
“These agencies look over our shoulder to make sure we’re sharing the right amount of information with the general public.”
Cr Ryder said these tools were in place so that the community could have a clear and informed understanding of what Council was achieving as an organisation.
“Tools like our Dashboards, e-planning, and the livestreaming of our Council meetings are all available so that the community can better understand what the organisation is working towards,” she said.
“Meanwhile, our platform Have Your Say Townsville opens the floor for community members who want to provide valuable feedback on our projects as part of an open consultation process.
“Our customer service team has had more than 227,000 interactions with the community in the last financial year, providing information directly to residents, while our social media pages had more than 120,000 followers during the same time period.
“These are all important ways for the community to look at what we’re delivering as a Council and I would encourage residents to use these tools to stay up to date on what is happening at Council and across the city.”
Learn more about these platforms:
