Reports, newsletters, presentations and social media posts are key aspects of the Inspectorate’s guidance and education program. Engagement occurs across various channels to ensure the Inspectorate’s reactive and proactive work is communicated effectively to state government, councils, council representative bodies, the community and other stakeholders.
Communication channels
Newsletter
The Inspectorate published four newsletters to provide information and updates about significant reports, investigations, events and other relevant information.
Newsletters were sent to more than 1,692 subscribers and published on the Inspectorate website. This increased the reach of information beyond traditional mailing lists and assisted in meeting Victorian Government accessibility requirements.
General engagement
We presented to various stakeholder groups and sector representative bodies prior to the October 2020 elections, including joining panel discussions for a Victorian Local Government Association (VLGA) Electoral Integrity forum and an IBAC forum for Public Interest Disclosure Coordinators.
Social media
The Inspectorate continues to use its Twitter and LinkedIn accounts to provide updates on its work and highlight key issues for the sector. We saw a modest increase in queries directed to our @CMI_Vic(opens in a new window) Twitter account about election campaigning practices, councillor or candidate behaviour or council activities. This was replicated in a much greater increase of complaints relating to social media and online activity during the 2020 council elections.
Over that time, we received 351 allegations relating to online content, with 75% of these allegations relating to social media, 10% about email, 11% about websites and 4% unspecified.
On 9 October 2020, we published a guide, with input from the Victorian Electoral Commission, detailing the appropriate method of ensuring social media posts are transparent and their author is clearly stated. (See examples shown on the right.) We also worked with sector representative bodies to deliver messaging to their members on social media usage and will continue to monitor the evolving role of social media in council and election activity and develop suitable materials for our audience.
Website
The Inspectorate website provides easy access to information about the Inspectorate’s work publications, news, media releases and the secure online complaint form(opens in a new window).
| Year | Page views | Top downloads |
|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | 50,902 | 1,204 - CEO report |
| 2019-20 | 43763 | 1,252 - Yarriambiak report |
| 2020-21 | 49,063 |
1,386 - Campaign donation returns FAQ 1,186 - Election complaint form (hard copy version) |
Source: Google Analytics and Google Data Studio
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