100 GREEN ACHIEVEMENTS

THE PEOPLE'S FORUM
Achievement	Target Date	Description	Progress	Further Information

ACHIEVEMENT: The People's Forum is a regular feature of the Melbourne City Council, allowing citizens to take the seats normally occupied by Councillors and during the People's Forum, set their own agenda about issues they wish to discuss.

TARGET DATE: December 2000

PROGRESS: Achieved.

DESCRIPTION: I created The People's Forum to inculcate a sense of Athenian democracy, where the people of the city come to sit in the seats the Councillors would usually use, and the citizens of Melbourne could set the agenda for discussions with their Councillors. The Melbourne City Council website describes it this way: The People's Forums your chance to set the agenda at a meeting with Melbourne City Councillors. Held in the historic Council Chamber and open to all members of the community, the People's Forum provides another opportunity to ask questions, present views and exchange ideas with Councillors and other members of the public on issues that are important to the City and its community.

The People's Forum for 2003 was held on 23 July in the Council Chambers at the Melbourne Town Hall.

The People's Forum for 2002 was held on 26 November. You can read what was discussed by downloading a PDF file of the 26 November 2002 Agenda and 26 November 2002 Action Notes.

People's Forums will now be held annually as part of our community consultation. Details of the People's Forum for 2003 will be available on the MCC website and in the local newspapers. In the meantime, if you have a question or an issue you would like addressed at a People’s Forum, please telephone the City of Melbourne Hotline on 9658 9658 or e-mail peoplesforum@melbourne.vic.gov.au. We will then be able to answer your questions or provide information at the Forum.

FURTHER INFORMATION: If you have a question or issue you would like addressed at a People’s Forum, please telephone the City of Melbourne Hotline on 9658 9658 or e-mail peoplesforum@melbourne.vic.gov.au. Questions on notice allow for researched responses, though in the spirit of the people's Forum, questions without notice as a means of settling the agenda are the prerogative of attendees.

A short article I wrote for Melbourne News on my initiative to introduce the first People's Forum in October 1999 is attached: The Peoples Forum.