Management and staff at Local Government FOCUS would like to thank readers who took the time to complete our 1998 Survey. Once again we received a range of responses from elected members and officers, across all States and Territories and from metropolitan and rural Councils. The Survey helps us to plan future editions and ensure we are covering the issues you see as important.
Eightyone percent of respondents said that they read FOCUS regularly, with a further 18 percent saying they read it sometimes. Almost 93 percent rated the publication as either ‘Good’ (45 percent), ‘Very good’ (39 percent) or ‘Excellent’ (9 percent). Six percent rated it as ‘Fair’ and 1 percent ‘Poor’.
On the question, ‘Are we providing enough items relevant to your Council?’ 64 percent said ‘Yes’ while 27 percent said ‘No’. The majority who responded ‘No’ were from rural Councils.
We receive many press releases from metropolitan Councils, which generally have access to greater resources. However we urge officers and elected members from smaller Councils to contact us with their initiatives or new programs and we will do the rest.
Similar to last year, the majority of comments related to FOCUS being topical, informative and easy to read. Suggestions include more coverage of governance issues and articles to encourage increased funding to Local Government.
We are happy to receive ‘opinion’ items submitted by interested readers as part of a regular ‘Open Forum’. Please keep items less than 400 words and forward by email or fax by the first Friday of the month prior to publication. Final decision on publication rests with the Editor.
Email corinnem@lgfocus.aus.net or fax (03) 9489 1845.
