Apollo Bay, Skenes Creek and Marengo Community Reference Group

Membership will include individuals who reflect the diversity of the Apollo Bay, Skenes Creek and Marengo resident population and will include a varied demographic profile regarding age, gender, and place of residence.

The CRG will include eight to ten residents of Apollo Bay, Skenes Creek and Marengo and should generally represent people who have their primary place of residence in Apollo Bay, Skenes Creek and Marengo or the surrounding area.

The role of the CRG is to:

• Provide feedback or commentary about matters related to the Apollo Bay Structure Plan review project.
• Promote awareness of the Apollo Bay Structure Plan review project within the broader Apollo Bay, Skenes Creek and Marengo community.

Members of the CRG are responsible for:

• Ensuring active participation in meetings by all members through attendance and contributing to discussions.
• Reviewing relevant information or documents.
• Adhering to the Ground Rules for Behaviour.
• Managing and reporting individual member’s conflicts of interest.
• Maintaining confidentiality where required.
• Meeting as requested by the Chair, generally in accordance with the Terms of Reference(PDF, 403KB) .

Four or five meetings will be on required at various milestones during the project. Meetings including dates, times and venue arrangements will be determined on the basis of what suits the CRG the best. 

The purpose of the meetings will be to:

• Facilitate understanding of planning requirements and processes to inform the group’s discussion
• Facilitate group discussion about the project and specific issues
• Facilitate understanding of different perspectives within the group
• Provide an opportunity to contribute ideas and feedback to inform the review of the structure plan.

Members are required to attend all meetings, or to advise the chairperson in writing that they are unable to attend the meeting at least five hours prior to the meeting occurring.

If a community member is absent from more than three meetings, their membership from the group shall be suspended. 

Prospective members of the CRG must declare any property interests within the study area, or any property interests that relatives or close associates may have in the study area as part of the Expression of Interest process.

As an on-going project governance practice, CRG members must declare any conflicts of interest prior to the discussion of issues or at any time a conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest arises.

A conflict of interest may be real, potential, or perceived in nature and may refer to situations in which personal, occupational or financial consideration may affect or appear to affect the objectivity or fairness of discussions related to the defined activities. Individuals must declare potential conflicts to the CRG Chairperson and must either absent themselves from the discussion or put the decision to the collective on whether they should absent themselves.