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Liveable Communities

The Liveable Communities Program aims to promote health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequity by influencing the planning of neighbourhoods, towns and cities.  The Program Team is working with Local Government, NSW Department of Planning, Local Aboriginal Land Councils and other relevant agencies to achieve this aim.

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Photograph courtesy of Cherie Johnson
"Speaking in Colour"

Working with Local Government

The Working with Local Government to Create Liveable Communities in the Lower Hunter project involves the Hunter Regional Managers Network working with Lower Hunter Councils to promote the creation of more ‘liveable’ communities through strategic assessment and planning of future development.  As part of the Lower Hunter Regional Strategy, various sites throughout the Lower Hunter Region have been earmarked for future development. As part of the Project, a number of Liveable Communities Assessments have been undertaken to inform the proposed developments within selected sites. Each Liveable Communities Assessment has involved the collection of data via community telephone survey, along with publicly available data sources (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2006 Household Census and information held by Local Council), and targeted consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Key results and recommendations from each of these Assessments can be found as follows:

A Liveable Communities Assessment was also undertaken in a rural setting, in partnership with Gunnedah Shire Council. Key results and recommendations from this Assessment can be found as follows:

Working with Aboriginal Organisations

In order to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives are included in the above Liveable Communities Assessments,  HNEPH has developed and tested a model for engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to investigate the effect of the built environment on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

In order to achieve this, HNEPH has worked in partnership with the Mindaribba Local Aboriginal Land Council, Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, Awabakal Newcastle Aboriginal Co-Op, Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council, Min Min Aboriginal Corporation, Gunida Gunyah Aboriginal Corporation and Red Chief Local Aboriginal Land Council. The Liveable Communities Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consultations were conducted in the Local Government Areas of Maitland, Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens and Gunnedah. 

The model for engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Isladner communities, and the Summary Report produced from the consultation conducted in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas, was recently awarded the Planning Institute Australia Public Engagement and Community Planning Award. This award recognises "initiatives in best practice public engagement which achieve an outstanding and innovative contribution to social planning practice and outcomes."

The Planning Institute Australia noted that high quality community participation is integral to sound planning and contributes to improved outcomes. The partnership between Hunter New England Popualation Health, the Awabakal Local Aboriginal Land Council, the Awabakal Newcastle Aboriginal Co-Op, the City of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie City Council ensured a voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in the task of planning for a healthy built environment.

The Report ‘Healthy Country Healthy Mob’ summarises the results of the Awabakal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consultation.

Other Key Outcomes Include:

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