A summary of the speech delivered Pauline Peel, Brisbane Council's Manager, Community & Economic Development, to the Communities in Control conference 2004.

• Looking at what, as an employer, it could do to innovate;
• Achieving inclusivity with the community and community members, and;
• Citizen engagement.

• Put in place a Youth in Recovery program, which sees it offer employment – through 12-month traineeships – to young people in rehabilitation after drug problems. The project is a joint venture between the council, the State Government and the Mercy Centre, with 50 young people having already completed the program.
• Committed to indigenous employment – not just through traineeships that would make the council "look like a good employer" – but through a commitment to employing indigenous people across the organisation. The number of indigenous people employed by the council has jumped, as has the retention level with those workers.
• Moved to build international understanding through programs which can see staff members work in different areas – even different countries – to gain experience and an insight into other organisations, cultures and their issues.

• The social tendering project with the Nundah Co-Op group, which has seen the community organisation successfully tender for council works' contracts. So successful has this been the co-op has now won a Government tender. The council and the co-op are now working together to spread this social tendering program across the whole council: "So we're working with Nundah Co-Op to find ways of building capacity. We're aiming for a social tendering floor if you like so that we'll have a group of organisations there equipped to get some work and give people employment," she said.

"It is about volunteering but it's also about creating jobs for people. Again [the question is] can we roll this out, can we retain the commitment? But it's a great initiative."
• The Visible Link project which aims to empower young people, and which has done so through advocacy, the creation of a website where the agenda is set by young people and a festival organised by young people for young people.
• The Creative Democracy program, which aims to engage the community in complex issues, and.
• The Brisbane Housing Company program, aiming at alleviating the lack of affordable housing in the city through the council creating this subsidiary company. The company, with shares owned by the council, the State Government and the community.

• Develop a strategic plan for the Fortitude Valley area – an "old and challenging area" in Brisbane. Stakeholders in the area include businesses, property developers and the music industry – as it is the heart of Brisbane's music scene. Unfortunately, residents moving to the area did not like the noise from music venues, which were then shutting down.

"We said, 'No. That's not good enough. This is actually part of our economic base.' So the strategic planning process has built in input from musicians, venues, people working in HIV/AIDS organisations, homeless etc," she said.
"At the same time we've had a campaign running called 'Loud And Proud And V Is For Volume', so we're actually making some changes. For the residents, if you want to live here you've got to accept the noise. And we might have to think about how you soundproof yourselves a bit, we might have to work with the venues, but we've all got to be in this together."
• Move forward with an e-Democracy program, and.
• A Places for People program – involving area committees specific to certain parts of the city and the council trying to build on public participation through the program.