Making Place Matter

Shared decision-making can transform communities. But a persistent tension keeps bubbling up: the structure of government can make the process harder. Funding models, accountability requirements, legislative constraints. These structures exists for a reason, but can co-exist with shared decision making, if everyone agrees on a way forward. This episode looks at what needs to shift to operationalis...

Anyone can run a good meeting. The harder question is what happens afterwards. How do you keep communities informed, hold yourself to your commitments, and build the kind of trust that survives setbacks? We explore the ‘crunchy’ but essential work of accountability in shared decision making. Jo Anne Kelly from Learning the Macleay shares what happens when the young people start telling...

There’s no one “right” way to implement share decision-making, so in this episode, you’re going to hear three. A community-level initiative in regional Victoria, a state-level disaster authority in Queensland, and a philanthropic organisation tackling some of Australia’s most entrenched challenges. Each has built processes and structures that fit their context, while...

Shared decision making is all about relationships. It brings together diverse groups of people, who can start with power imbalances between them and a complicated history behind them. For shared decision making to work, you need to build a foundation of trust - otherwise difficult decisions and hard conversations become challenging as the process goes on. Building trust doesn’t happen quickl...

Some of the most complex challenges facing communities today don’t sit neatly within one organisation, one sector, or one level of government. Solving those problems requires something that doesn’t come easily: sharing power. Do what does sharing power looks like in practice and why is it so important? “For philanthropists, it’s going in with that strengths and asset focus,...

For too long, decisions about communities have been made without them. Shared decision making offers a different way – where communities aren’t just consulted, but are empowered to shape the services and systems affecting their lives.  You will hear from the residents of Millgrove in regional Victoria, who decided to stop waiting for change and start leading it. In this episode, t...

What happens when the people closest to a problem help create the solution? For decades, top-down, one-size-fits-all approaches have failed to meet the needs of diverse communities across Australia. Disadvantage remains entrenched – not because communities lack solutions, but because they’re rarely asked what they need.  Across Australia, that is changing. Communities are bringing...