Report kept out of sight until after council election

Most councils in Victoria commission annual phone surveys to measure community satisfaction with their services. Port Phillip received their report midway through last year but did not publish the results until December (after the Council elections).

Port Phillip Council Annual Community Satisfaction survey report 2024

Opinion from Trevor White, local resident and keen observer of council processes.

This report was not released to the public until December 2024, even though the council had the report for months before the council elections. It reveals a steady decline in service satisfaction particularly over the last few years.

This survey has been undertaken by the independent research organisation JWS yearly for many years and asks residents about their satisfaction with 22 services provided by CoPP.

**Click image to download the full report**

The survey compares the CoPP satisfaction of services with the outcomes of other Local Government areas.

Below average results

CoPP services’ results are below the average results of other Metro councils in 21 of the 22 service areas.

The City of Port Phillip survey shows that the community satisfaction results have declined year by year over the last 4 years, particularly over the last two years.

The overall community satisfaction performance peaked in 2015 at 68% and dropped year by year to a low of 55% in 2024, noting a dramatic drop from 64% in 2022 to 55% in 2024, the last two years.

The overall direction of council peaked in 2015 at 56% and slid to 42% in 2024 with a rapid decline from 51% in 2021 to 42% in 2024.

Other councils published results in June/July

Other councils published their report as early as March 2024 with most publishing the report in June/ July 2024, giving the community time to analyse their report in time for the council elections in October 2024.

The City of Port Phillip released their report showing the slide in Community satisfaction in late November / early December, just in time for Christmas.

Some questions for Council

What date did CoPP receive the report from JWS?
What date did councilors receive the report?
Why was the report not released until December 2024?
Did any person make representations to delay the report?
Will the CEO’s quarterly report and CEO’s annual KPI, now include action to improve the community satisfaction of services that should at least meet the Metropolitan Council average performance scores.