The People’s Panel of Auckland: What Can a Survey Do?
(This article is written in the context of case study in the course of E-Engagement at Victoria University of Wellington)
One of the public engagement forms conducted by the Auckland Council is the People’s Panel. The People’s Panel is a programme that can be accessed through the Auckland Council website. There are surveys that citizens can take part in. The surveys cover a various issue that needs attention by both the citizens and the policymakers. Auckland Council aims The People’s Panel as a quick and easy way for Aucklanders to have their say.
The People’s Panel is not the only way for public engagement in Auckland. However, there are still critiques about the effectiveness of public engagement in Auckland. To get a clear and realistic understanding, it is important to figure out the basic principles of public engagement before reviewing the People’s Panel programme of Auckland Council.
Public Engagement
‘Public Engagement’ is a term commonly used in New Zealand. Australia uses the term ‘Community Engagement’ and in the United Kingdom is called ‘Public Involvement’. Whilst the United States uses the term ‘Public Participation’. Those terminologies refer to any process which involves the public in problem-solving or decision-making.
According to IAP2 (International Association for Public Participation), public engagement consists of three parts: Decision process, core values and spectrum. IAP2 is the International Association for Public Participation, which is a network of public engagement practitioners. The IAP2 framework is well known and widely used in many countries.
The generic decision process in the framework of IAP2 starts from identifying the issue, gathering information, establishing decision criteria, developing options, evaluating options and in the end in making the decision. Public engagement should do this process as a whole or any stage of it before carrying out decisions.
The core values of public engagement that citizens are involved in the decision-making by provided information, being heard, and giving input. The most important is that the contribution of citizens can influence the decision. Otherwise, the engagement is meaningless.
Still from IAP2, the spectrum of public engagement includes aspects of information, consultation, involvement, collaboration and empowerment. Citizens have the right to be given balanced and objective information so that they understand the problem. Citizens are also able to provide their analysis and collaborate with relevant parties to produce policy alternatives. Finally, citizens are able to determine what policies they want.
The People’s Panel
The People’s Panel programme offered by the Auckland Council on its website invites all Auckland citizens to join online. Once registered, users will be sent survey(s) every month. There are great prize draws to stimulate users to fill out the surveys. Afterwards, the Council will inform the progress of the survey process and the obtained result to the users.
Based on IAP2 framework, The People’s Panel seems to exist at the ‘gathering info’ stage because it is all about surveys. Even though in the end, the survey results can be used for ‘establishing decision criteria’, ‘developing’ and ‘evaluating options’ stages of the decision process. But those surveys not directly result in a decision.
The People’s Panel meets the value of ‘being heard’ and ‘giving input’. As well as being noticed how their input will affect the decision. Likewise the spectrum aspect, the council gets feedback from the public through those surveys.
For instance, the last survey conducted in June 2019 was about Auckland’s heritage. This survey asked for public opinion about the existence of 2,494 protected historic heritages in Auckland. The series of questions in the 10-minute survey will give a picture of the benefits of heritage to the community. The survey results are then outlined in Auckland’s Heritage Counts 2019 annual summary. In the end, the survey results will be used as one input in managing heritage. Probably for changing the pattern of maintenance, increasing or reducing the number of protected heritage in accordance with the situation.
In the Animal Management survey conducted in April 2019, its content provides information to the council on what the animal map looks like in Auckland City. Animals and their owner’s profile and citizen experience with nuisances are used in analysing policies regarding animal regulations. Furthermore, the results of this survey give consideration to local boards whether it is necessary to amend or not amend the Animal Management Bylaw 2015.
The People’s Panel is not in the process of providing balanced and objective information to citizens. The survey process is also not at the decision-making stage. Citizens are unable to provide issues but only accept issues that have been raised by the council. It has become a criticism that is often pointed out by the public. Citizens ask for more ‘authority’ to raise new issues, new solutions and to decide what policies to be implemented. The certain questions and answers posted in the survey is a limitation of the People’s Panel programme.
Another deficiency is that The People’s Panel does not fulfil the aspects of involvement and collaboration. Citizens are unable to conduct two-way discussions in developing solutions or policy options. Like other forms of online deliberation, The People’s Panel also has limited accessibility to groups who are not familiar with the internet.
As mentioned above, it is understood that the People’s Panel is not the only way of public engagement provided by the Auckland Council. Public engagement does have to be carried out in various methods. Online deliberation should be conducted simultaneously with offlines. Likewise meetings, conversations and hearings as offered on ‘Have Your Say’ programme on the Auckland Council website.
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view.” (Harper Lee)
References:
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/have-your-say/Pages/home.aspx
