Consultation process
Methodology
The consultation methodology comprised:
- Promotional strategy
- Meetings.
Promotional Strategy
In April 2003 promotional flyers were distributed to people likely to be interested in a consultation process for the development of the Policy. These included Queensland Council of Carers (QCC), as well as other relevant organisations such as older people's organisations, women's organisations and service providers.
These flyers provided information about the draft Policy, the companion document, outlined how people could obtain the document and included information about planned public consultation meetings.
A toll-free telephone number was advertised and the consultation papers were made available through the Departmental website. The consultation meetings were publicised through press releases and newspaper advertisements.
Meetings
Twelve public consultation meetings were held in June and July 2003 in the following locations:
In addition two focus groups were held in Brisbane for people from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background and for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
On behalf of the State Government, staff from Disability Services Queensland (DSQ) led and facilitated the meetings, with some assistance in facilitating small groups from several members of the Carer Recognition Interdepartmental Committee. The meetings were scheduled to commence mid-morning so that carers were not required to travel during peak hour.
The program was designed so that participants attending could benefit from the information provided, network and have sufficient opportunity to express their views.
Each meeting took three hours and the program covered the following:
- An opening providing an overview of the meeting and the background to the draft policy
- An information session covering known information about carers and the objectives of the policy for carers. A special feature of this session was a brainstorm of words participants used to describe the caring role. These words were considered in the re-development of the principles and operational guidelines.
- A workshop focussing on the draft Policy, where participants' comments were recorded
- A plenary covering feedback from the workshop and providing an opportunity to add other words or concepts to those already recorded.
Participants
A total of 487 individuals or organisations throughout Queensland participated in the consultation process, either through attendance at public meetings (356) or by submitting a Consultation Feedback Booklet or submission (131). Of the 131 submissions or Consultation Feedback Booklet received, 109 were from individuals and 22 from organisations.
The following number of people attended the consultation meetings:
| Brisbane | 36 |
| Bundaberg | 15 |
| Cairns | 23 |
| Gold Coast | 53 |
| Ipswich | 30 |
| Longreach | 10 |
| Mackay | 24 |
| Mt Isa | 11 |
| Rockhampton | 36 |
| Sunshine Coast | 55 |
| Toowoomba | 37 |
| Townsville | 26 |
In total there were only a relatively small number of carers who were able to attend consultation meetings and complete written submissions and the respondents are not a statistically representative sample. Thus it is not possible to generalise the results of this consultation to the rest of the community of carers. However, the number of carers who were able to attend consultation meetings and complete written submissions is not considered indicative of the level of interest among carers.
Meeting evaluation
At the end of each consultation meeting, participants were asked to evaluate the usefulness of the meeting. The feedback from each meeting was overwhelmingly positive. A summary of the feedback for all of the consultation meetings is described in Table One.
| Question | Strongly disagree/ Disagree | Neutral | Agree/ Strongly agree |
| The structure of the meeting enabled me to participate in a constructive way. | 1.24% | 5.79% | 92.98% |
| The visual presentation assisted my understanding of the draft Policy. | 2.48% | 13.64% | 83.88% |
| The venue was appropriate and assisted the facilitation of the meeting. | 4.51% | 6.97% | 88.52% |
| The pace of the consultation meeting was appropriate. | 4.92% | 8.20% | 86.89% |
| Do you think your attendance at the consultation meeting will assist you to respond to the Draft Policy using the Feedback Booklet? | 0.82% | 5.76% | 93.42% |
Last updated February 2009