"Town interests at heart" - Hindmarsh Community Satisfaction Improves

Published on 24 June 2025

The Hindmarsh Shire Council Community Satisfaction Survey has been completed, and we are proud to share the results with our community. The annual survey invites residents to share their views about the place they live, work and play, and provides valuable guidance to Council on what’s going well and where we can improve. The 2024-2028 Councillors and the Executive team have driven significant improvements in Council’s performance, and we thank everyone who gave their time to provide this feedback.

Over the past 12 months, Hindmarsh Shire Council has placed a strong focus on improving communication with the community - ensuring we’re listening more effectively and providing clearer information about our services, decisions, and spending. It’s through this open dialogue that we’re able to deliver better outcomes and services for the people who live here.

The 2025 Local Government Community Satisfaction Survey shows that, in addition to critical services like roads, waste management, and asset maintenance, the community values Council’s efforts in communication, customer service, advocacy, and community consultation.

Hindmarsh Shire Council CEO, Monica Revell, said, “Much of what we do happens quietly in the background - from maintaining local infrastructure to supporting vulnerable residents. These results show that even when our work isn’t always visible, it’s having a real and lasting impact on our community.”

Monica Revell added, “Our highest-performing areas were the Appearance of Public Areas, Waste Management, and Recreational Facilities. These results reflect not only Council’s work, but also the incredible efforts of our local volunteer groups, sporting clubs, businesses, and every resident and visitor who contributes to keeping our towns clean, welcoming, and vibrant.”

Council performed significantly higher than the small rural group and state-wide averages on all core metrics (including overall performance) and in 10 out of 15 service areas included in the survey. Our lowest performing areas reflect feedback we have also received through community engagement with farmers and for the Council Plan and 2025/2026 Budget.

We’re already taking action, and will continue to focus on service improvement when it comes to:

• Planning and Building Services: We’ve developed our planning and building team and increased administrative support that we can process permits faster and communicate better with current and future applicants.
• Elderly Support Services: we’ve committed to continue delivering Classic Movies and Cuppa Connections, have Seniors concerts coming up in June/July and are excited to participate in the Senior’s Festival later in the year. As Council no longer delivers Home and Community Care, we know this will also impact this result, but are excited to offer services that our elderly community can access to meet new people and connect socially.
• Enforcement of Local Laws: we’ve invested in our local laws team and have spent the last month targeting cat overpopulation across the Shire. We are currently undertaking a review of our local laws and will reflect feedback received in the updated Municipal Local Law to be adopted by Council later this year.
• Slashing and Weed Control: Council now directly hosts a Landcare Facilitator position who works closely with Landcare groups and farmers on strategies to manage weeds and pests on Council owned and managed land.
• Sealed and Unsealed Local Roads: we’ve invested $4.15million in unsealed local road upgrades for 2025/2026 to improve the condition of roads essential for our farming communities.

Hindmarsh Shire Council Mayor, Cr Ron Ismay, said, “These outcomes show that residents value the services we deliver every day, and we remain committed to listening, improving, and continuing to meet the needs of our community. We’ve made simple, open and honest communication a key focus of our Council Plan for 2025-2029 and we look forward to what we can achieve with the community over the coming year.”

The results of the Community Satisfaction Survey can be found at www.hindmarsh.vic.gov.au/Community-Satisfaction-Survey, where you can also view results from previous years. 

For more information, contact Hindmarsh Shire Council on 03 5391 4444, email info@hindmarsh.vic.gov.au, or visit any of our Customer Service Centres and Libraries.