What is “e”?
“E” anything generally relates to activities being conducted electronically on a series of networked computers, mostly (but not always) utilising the internet.
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What is e‑democracy?
The pursuit of e-democracy is becoming more and more common throughout the local government sector.
At the City of Port Phillip, e-democracy means on‑line initiatives contributing to transparency and participation.
E-democracy should not be confused with other on-line initiatives and service delivery (i.e. e-government).
E‑democracy initiatives are generally an adjunct to off‑line "democracy" activities.
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The journey so far
After conducting a governance review to examine the effectiveness of avenues for citizen participation in council decision‑making, awareness and understanding of council and councillor processes, and transparency of processes, the City of Port Phillip identified the need to further investigate the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing e‑democracy initiatives as a means of growing democracy.
In July 2004 the councillors at the City of Port Phillip considered an  e-governance concept paper. This paper approached e‑democracy from a non‑technical perspective and was designed to stimulate thinking about the e‑democracy journey that will unfold over time at the City of Port Phillip.
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Existing initiatives
The City of Port Phillip has already implemented several e-democracy initiatives.
The links below can be used to find out more:
Community Governance Statement
The City of Port Phillip's commitment to sustaining and growing citizenship and democracy.
Council Meetings
Council meeting protocols, timetable, agendas and minutes on-line.
Advisory Committees
Committee membership details on‑line.
Results & Reports
Results and reports, including the annual report, on-line.
Local Law & Legislation
Information regarding local law, enforcement and legislation compliance in the City of Port Phillip.
Participation & Consultation Calendar
Helps community members participate in council's vision and decision-making by listing consultation processes and events.
My Connected Community
A virtual on-line space where communities or people with similar interests can interact.
Library Computer Access
Free public internet access in all Port Phillip libraries.
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Next steps
The e‑democracy journey has only just started to unfold at the City of Port Phillip. Most e‑democracy initiatives will take some time to roll out and even more time before they will “grow democracy”. At this point, our focus is on creating the right conditions to follow up e‑democracy initiatives as they emerge.
The next phase involves identifying possible initiatives for further consideration and analysis, including an assessment of the cost and resource implications.
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More information
For more information on e-democracy, contact staff in the council's Governance unit via ASSIST on (03) 9209 6777 or TTy (03) 9209 6713 or email using eServices.
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