Sydney Your Say - Transforming Digital Community Engagement

The City of Sydney's Technology and Digital Services team spearheaded a transformational civic engagement initiative that fundamentally reimagined how local government connects with its diverse urban community. Serving Australia's largest city with 231,000 residents, 79,000 businesses, and over 600,000 daily workers and visitors, the team recognised that traditional community consultation methods were failing to meet modern citizen expectations and democratic participation needs.

Comprehensive research revealed critical barriers to effective civic engagement: widespread unawareness of consultation opportunities, significant participation obstacles including time constraints and geographic limitations, and a profound trust deficit where community members felt their input disappeared into bureaucratic processes without visible impact. The existing digital consultation landscape was fragmented across multiple disconnected platforms, requiring citizens to navigate different interfaces and repeatedly provide demographic information, creating frustrating experiences that discouraged meaningful participation.

The team's innovative response was the Community Engagement System (CES), launched in October 2024 as an integrated digital ecosystem that transforms every aspect of community consultation. Rather than implementing another standalone tool, the team strategically leveraged existing Digital Services Program investments including Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power BI, and AI-powered analytics to create a comprehensive solution that maximises return on previous technology investments while delivering cutting-edge functionality.

CES combines custom-built community tools—including a collaborative Community Ideas Board and anonymous Quick Polls—with proven digital platforms to create an end-to-end fully integrated consultation experience. The system features personalised dashboards allowing citizens to track consultation history, AI-powered sentiment analysis that transforms weeks of manual processing into actionable insights delivered within hours, and transparent community dialogue spaces that build trust through visible impact.