How Wellington Shire Council delivered a policy designed to level the playing field for women and girls

When the Victorian Government released the Fair Access Policy Roadmap in 2022, Wellington Shire Council seized the opportunity to promote access and inclusion, ensuring women and girls have equal opportunities to participate in sport and active recreation across the community.

To ensure a thorough and inclusive approach, Wellington Shire Council established a Project Working Group (PWG) that brought together representatives from both Council and Sport & Recreation Victoria. The PWG’s primary role was to develop a comprehensive project scope and brief, laying the foundation for the initiative’s success.

Understanding the need for specialised expertise, the PWG decided to engage an external consultant (Gippsland based Regional Sports Assembly) who could provide additional support and guidance, necessary for the project.

This collaborative approach underscored Wellington Shire Council’s commitment to delivering a well-considered and effective Fair Access Policy that would make a tangible difference in the lives of women and girls across the municipality.

Next Steps

A consultation & engagement plan was developed to ensure meaningful consultation with local stakeholders and community members. This process was also a key component of Gender Impact Assessments that Council conducted during the review of relevant project policies.

Another key part of the project involved examining the various ways that Council managed its community facilities. These included leases, licences, hire agreements, allocations, leisure centres and bookings. In some instances, Council was directly involved, while in others, there was minimal contact between Council staff and the end users of community facilities. A detailed analysis of each arrangement type was conducted as part of the review.

Considerations

During the engagement process, it was important to consider the available data. Key questions included:

What was the participation rate of women and girls at all levels of sport?

What is the gender breakdown on committees?

How is Council ensuring that the entire community has access to facilities and programs?

Industry trends already showed that these groups were heavily underrepresented. However, it was found that there was limited data available to support this. Furthermore, Family Violence data revealed that Wellington Shire had significantly higher levels of police callouts compared to other Local Government Areas in Victoria. Given these findings, the PWG agreed that improved data collection would be a key recommendation.

The PWG meet fortnightly to discuss every aspect of the project. Informing the consultation plan, identifying challenges and barriers, discussing the role of Council and what were the priority recommendations, were to be addressed.The group also linked in with Council’s Gender Equity Committee, Gender Equality Action Plan and Communications and Media team to discuss their role in implementation.

The work was supported by the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, through the Regional Road Show and Community of Practice which was also facilitated by GippSport in Gippsland.

Recommendations

The recommendations found that there were several policies that needed to be amended which included Council’s Committee’s Policy, Community Assistance Grants Program Policy and the Council Provision of Recreation/Community Facilities Policy.In addition, Council developed a new standalone Fair Access Policy to ensure that all recommendations were addressed and implemented via a Council policy document.

Proudly, Wellington Shire Council was the first in Gippsland to adopt a Fair Access Policy – designed to level the playing field when it comes to women and girls participating in sport and active recreation.

Guiding Principles of Wellington Shire Councils Fair Access Policy include:

  • Council Project Steering Groups should include diverse representation including women and should be chaired effectively to ensure that their voices are heard at project meetings.
  • Informal, social and emerging physical activity opportunities should be encouraged and supported with Community Assistance Grants and discounted fees where Council is responsible for setting fees.
  • Ensure adequate provision of lighting and cleaning of Council managed public facilities to ensure that open spaces and supporting infrastructure are welcoming, safe, and inclusive.
  • The responsible service of alcohol is an important part of providing a safe and welcoming environment for the whole community and encouraged through booking procedures.
  • Council aims to collect and analyse data annually to ensure diverse representation on Committee’s as part of this policy.
  • Council will monitor annual sport participation data where it is available to track progress over time.
  • Provide industry training to committees of management and sporting clubs in partnership with key stakeholder including Change Our Game, GippSport and Gippsland Women’s Health to inform them of Council’s Fair Access Policy.
  • Prioritise smaller infrastructure funding to address immediate/ significant barriers to access while waiting for larger projects to be funded. Examples could include baby change facilities, changeroom cubicles, improved signage.
  • All projects that are seeking future Sport & Recreation Victoria grant support or benefiting from an application will require a SRV Participation Plan that should also include a Gender Equity audit and development into an action plan. This should be embedded into facility management plan once facilities are constructed.
  • Council will inspect all future facilities that are constructed with support from Sport & Recreation Victoria grant funding on an annual basis to ensure fair access is provided as intended from the facility design and funding.
  • Continue to financially support women/teams to celebrate sport pathway representation through Community Assistance Grants.
  • Advocate for sporting events that hire or apply for event permits that access Council directly managed facilities to have inclusive practices/prizemoney and trophies.

Considerations

In addition, Wellington Shire Council has developed a detailed Action & Implementation Plan outlining key policy principles and breaking them down into Year 1 and Year 2. The plan assigned responsibilities and specific tasks, as well as delivered a checklist for Council staff to ensure they consider key access and inclusion responsibilities as part of their daily work.

Council cannot achieve this without the support of key partners, GippSport, the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, Sport & Recreation Victoria, and other local organisations. Success will require ongoing community leadership, education, and a commitment to exploring new strategies to ensure fair access and opportunities for all.

The Project Working Group meets quarterly to monitor progress, ensure compliance, and support ongoing implementation.

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