Combining wide-reaching with in-depth approaches to design and deliver a landmark region-wide engagement process

Towards 2050: Shaping Cairns

For CAIRNS REGIONAL COUNCIL

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Towards 2050 engaged residents across every locality in the Cairns local government area

 

Situation Explained

Towards 2050: Shaping Cairns is a growth strategy developed by Cairns Regional Council to guide how population growth would be spread across the entire local government area. Engagement ran from mid-2022 to mid-2025. Engagement planning and capacity building within council began in 2021 before any technical work commenced. The engagement process aimed to address the challenge of managing diverse identities within the large local government area and overcoming barriers that come from engaging the community in long-term strategic planning projects.

LPC developed an engagement plan and toolkit with four stages, encompassing iterative conversations, education, leveraging networks and events, and tailoring communication to lifestyle needs. The approach enabled informative and inclusive interactions, reaching the inform, consult, and involve levels of the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation.

Our Approach

Towards 2050: Shaping Cairns was a comprehensive, three-year engagement process that informed a new Growth Strategy for Cairns. The process was designed to prepare the community for significant projected population growth by genuinely involving them in developing a shared vision for the future of Cairns.

The engagement process was delivered across 4 phases and achieved iterative ongoing involvement from participants, challenging the norm for strategic planning projects.

Key highlights from the engagement process include the following.

  • A Community Panel made up of 350 independently selected community members who reflected the demographic diversity of the Cairns community, creating a ‘mini‐Cairns public’.
  • Mock ‘development application’ signs placed in high-traffic public areas, including in parks and at beaches, to leverage potential outrage, provoke curiosity and direct people to the project’s webpage and the Phase 1 survey.
  • Iterative Community and Youth Summits delivered in Phases 2 and 3. Youth Summit attendees included Year 10 to Year 12 students from across Cairns, and members of Council’s Young Mayors Program. Representatives from the Youth Summits attended the Community Summits to share insights and ideas, including a clear message about the need to sensitively develop ‘up’ rather than ‘out’.
  • 25 pop-up stalls delivered at shopping centres and established, high-traffic events across Cairns, including the Babinda Harvest Festival, Cairns Show, FNQ Dogs Day Out, Children’s Festival, Multicultural Festival, NAIDOC Week and local markets.
  • ‘Embedding’ First Peoples engagement. 10% of the Community Panel were people who identified as First Peoples, reflecting the Cairns population. Each table at the first Community Summit included a community member who identified as First Peoples.
  • Seeing people at the Phase 4 workshops who had been involved in all stages of the engagement process.

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Results

Towards 2050 engaged residents across every locality in the Cairns local government area, achieving meaningful reach through multiple channels. Across the engagement process, the project team documented:

  • 8,076 in-person participants
  • 4,200 online activity participants
  • 45,000 webpage views
  • 350 Community Panel members recruited by democratic lottery
  • 145,996 print notices and flyers distributed.

The wide range of methods and tools delivered as part of the engagement process led to recording more contact points (200,000) than the population (~175,000).

Monitoring participant satisfaction was built into the iterative design of Towards 2050 engagement. At the end of each phase of the engagement process the project team reflected on these learnings and adapted the approach.

The Community Panel member evaluation survey captured strong evidence of the engagement’s quality and impact:

  • 88% of Panel members said their knowledge of growth and strategic planning had increased as a result of their participation
  • 93.5% of Panel members felt their voice had at least some influence on the process, with 62.5% saying their feedback was ‘heard and considered throughout the project’, and 31% saying they believe it was ‘somewhat’ heard.

These results reflect satisfaction with the process and community education outcomes.

Panel members provided the following quotes about their experience:

“I enjoyed meeting and engaging with Council and community leaders. Sitting next to some of these people at workshops was incredibly informative and interesting and made me aware of so much more that is involved in decision making.”

Feedback captured at the Community Summits reflected a shift in how participants felt at the end of the day:

“Today has provided a light bulb moment for me.”

“After this forum I have no doubt our community is ready for change.”

In Phase 4, we asked community members to let us know whether the initiatives, outcomes and strategies in the draft Growth Strategy met their expectations. Responses showed that the draft Growth Strategy spoke to most, with the responses being over 50% for ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ with each strategy, and the plan for each part of the region.

Councillors also shared their satisfaction with the engagement, as seen in direct quotes from 3 different councillors:

“Never before has Cairns Regional Council taken such an in-depth look into the ambitions of our community for the future of this city…”

“This is the most comprehensive Strategy and consultation process that I’ve ever seen over my 10 years [in Cairns Regional Council].”

“I want to say how proud I am of how the Strategy has come together. It’s truly about listening to our community. Over the years, our officers and consultants have worked so hard to create multiple touch points ensuring residents, young people, Traditional Owners, business operators all had a chance to share their voices…

“I want to deeply thank the officers, consultants and the entire community. Your time, insights and passion have shaped this Strategy and it truly reflects what makes Cairns such a special place.”

Engagement was critical to the project’s success, informing technical work at every phase and ensuring the growth strategy would meet the expectations and needs of the Cairns community.

Towards 2050: Shaping Cairns Growth Strategy was endorsed unanimously in Council in late 2025.

Towards 2050 received the Engagement Institute’s national award for Engagement Excellence – Planning in 2026.

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