Western Australia’s City of Melville and Queensland’s Rockhampton Regional Council have been recognised as two of the world’s most liveable communities.
Both councils took out prestigious awards at the UN endorsed International Liveable Communities (LivCom) Awards ceremony held in Pilsen, Czech Republic, in October.
The City of Melville was named the Gold winner in the Whole of City (population of 75,001 to 200,000) category out of 11 finalists.
Council was also recognised for outstanding achievement in the Community Sustainability category, receiving the Community Sustainability award across all population categories, ahead of 46 finalists from 18 countries.
Melville Mayor Russell Aubrey said the world now knew what many in the organisation and the community had said for years.
“Melville is among the very best cities in the world,” he said.
“This award pays tribute to the outstanding work done by Elected Members and staff over recent years and confirms the sound decision making processes, strategies and practices currently in play.
“The award will bring local, national and international attention to our wonderful City and the work that we all do to make Melville a great place to live, work and enjoy.”
The judging panel was impressed with the way Melville had moved from measuring community satisfaction to measuring wellbeing.
The panel also recognised the City’s community engagement framework, community and neighbourhood planning processes, comprehensive range of more than 200 products and services, and its focus on community safety, crime prevention, and volunteering.
Located in the Tropic of Capricorn region of Queensland, Rockhampton Regional Council was the only other Australian finalist in this population category.
Offering a diversity of lifestyle options from coastal, to rural, to vibrant city living, with the best tropical climate Queensland has to offer, it took out the Bronze Award.
Rockhampton Regional Council Mayor Brad Carter said he was immensely proud of the community and was thrilled to have showcased the liveability of the region on the world stage.
“It was great validation of our vision for the region to be awarded bronze in the company of some really wonderful cities from countries around the world, like France, Poland and England,” he said.
“Showcasing our heritage, how we work towards more sustainable communities, our environmental management and future planning of our region was a great honour.”
Councillor Carter said that because the benchmarks that must be achieved were the same in each award category, regardless of population size, the Rockhampton Region was judged as being comparable to cities like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
For full details of award winners visit www.livcomawards.com/index.htm
