Figures B1, B2 and B3 give detailed information the purpose, activities and stakeholders for each of the three audited programs.

Figure B1

Strategic bushfire management plan

We have professionally engaged with the Department of Premier and Cabinet, the Victorian Public Sector Commission, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Level Crossing Removal Authority throughout the course of the audit. In accordance with section 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994 we provided a copy of this report or relevant extracts to those agencies, and requested their submissions and comments.

Public participation activities should meet their objectives and fulfil policy, legislation and better practice principles in their planning, implementation and evaluation.

Clear direction and support for public participation is necessary to ensure consistent understanding and effective public participation practice across the Victorian public sector. All agencies have different purposes and activities and it is important they set their own specific policies and guidance to complement any whole‑of-government framework. Agency-wide policies should set a consistent understanding, context and expectations across the agency.

Delivering consistent, high-quality public participation relies on both leadership at a whole-of-government level and effective prioritisation by agencies. This Part examines how the central agencies support better-practice principles in public participation across the whole of government and how the audited agencies support public participation as a priority.

In Australia and overseas, governments have increasingly recognised public participation as an essential part of planning projects and making decisions. This marks a shift in government culture from 'announce and defend' to 'debate and decide'. Transparent and well-managed public participation is now being seen as a critical input for informing government policies, strategies and programs, and as a key feature of good public administration and governance.

Public participation is the involvement of those affected by a decision in the decision‑making process. In Australia and overseas, there is growing recognition of the value of public participation as an essential part of planning projects and making decisions.

Increasingly, governments recognise the contribution the public can make in helping them to understand problems and risks, and to craft solutions that are more likely to work. The public perceive decisions that arise from open and collaborative processes to be more credible.

Ordered to be published

VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER May 2016

PP No 252, Session 2014-2017