Community safety, cohesion, health and wellbeing

We will focus on the following priorities in support of
this objective:

• collaborate with stakeholders to raise awareness and build community capacity to address, and support community safety and promote safe neighbourhoods
• advocate to the Victorian and Australian governments for stronger investment in violence prevention, community safety, infrastructure and support services

• Maintain or increase feeling safe in Glen Eira during the day
• Increase feeling safe in Glen Eira after dark

• Feeling safe in Glen Eira during the day is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  
• Feeling safe in Glen Eira after dark is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  

• Prioritised Action Plan developed and delivered

We continued to support the Taskforce, holding two meetings and bringing key stakeholders together. The group agreed on seven priority areas, including youth engagement and education, and formed sub‑groups to progress the work.

The Taskforce also hosted the Flavours of Culture event. Community leaders shared food and took part in conversations about cultural understanding and the values that connect our community.

• Framework endorsed by Council
• Framework implemented

• Glen Eira Respectful Interaction Policy adopted by Council
• Regular communication with Victoria Police
• ‘Coffee with a cop’ sessions at Glen Eira facilities

The Respectful Interaction Policy was adopted by Council in November 2025.

Victoria Police continue to receive a monthly schedule of our upcoming events.

Crime Stoppers information nights were held at Carnegie Library and Community Centre in September and November.

We held one ‘Coffee with a cop’ session.

• Four learning opportunities on topics such as cyber security delivered

We continue to provide learning opportunities for the community to build confidence with online safety:

• Be Connected program offered July–December 2025 to build older residents’ digital skills
• monthly drop‑in tech help sessions available at all library branches
• upcoming sessions planned (wallets, safety, forms, social media)
• Getting Started with Computers starts in March 2026.

We will focus on the following priorities in support of
this objective:

• improve the diversity of Council–run events to increase community participation
• strengthen relationships with First Nations people and Traditional Owner groups
• provide local and meaningful opportunities for arts and creative participation, learning and expression

• Maintain or increase community satisfaction with community and cultural activities
• Maintain or increase community satisfaction with arts centres and libraries

• Community satisfaction with community and cultural activities is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  
• Community satisfaction with arts centres and libraries is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  

• Annual series of events or programs in various locations throughout the municipality

We continue to deliver events across Glen Eira to
support local neighbourhood connection, including:

• Library After Dark in Elsternwick, Groove and
  Graze (3,000+ attendees) in Ormond, Live
  Sunday Sessions and Bacharach and Beyond at
  Town Hall
• Storytelling Festival held across multiple
  locations, with a new opening event at
  Carnegie forecourt. Our Youth Festival at the
  Bentleigh Library and Youth Hub.

• Culturally diverse events including Lunar New Year and Diwali held
• Program developed and delivered for events for those with visible and non-visible disabilities
• Peer support social events for people with Autism delivered
• Harmony Week events held
• Women’s only and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) swimming lessons delivered
• International Day of People With a Disability event held

We continue to deliver inclusive and accessible
events and programs:

• Diwali held in October 2025, bringing community together to enjoy music, dance and food
• International Day of People With a Disability event held on 4 December 2025 where we showcased accessible sports, including a Wheelchair AFL demonstration match
• Men’s Shed skills program developed with
  Marriott Support Services
• Hidden Disability Sunflower program continued
  across libraries and Customer Service
• The Lab autism social and gaming group delivered
  weekly during school terms
• held 80 (CALD) swimming lessons from July to
  December 2025
• Chat N’ Chuckle group for people with acquired
  brain injury continued to meet and connect.

Planning is underway for Lunar New Year and Harmony Week events in early 2026.

• Accessibility checklist developed to assist in community event planning
• Printed and online libraries, arts and culture programs accessible to all

We are developing an accessibility checklist that will guide accessible community event planning.

We promote all our events and programs through a mix of social media, printed materials and billboards when suitable. This helps ensure our activities are accessible, easy to find and welcoming to everyone.

• Two programs per year held featuring First Nations people
• Mobtix available at First Nations events
• Dedicated Expression of interest (EOI) on website for First Nations artists

We’re rescheduling the postponed NAIDOC week event featuring Boori Pryor and preparing First Nations programming for the 2026 Storytelling Festival. Mobtix is available at events. A dedicated EOI for First Nations artists is also in development and will be in place by June 2026.

We will focus on the following priorities in support of
this objective:

• support social cohesion initiatives that promote respect, inclusion and improve access to opportunities for connection
• improve the accessibility of programs, services and facilities that we and our partners provide to the community
• improve our approach to promoting diversity and inclusion, gender equity and supporting people with disability
  (non-visible and visible) 🔑
• prioritise support for those experiencing social isolation, vulnerable families, people living with chronic illness and
  those whose health may be impacted climate change
• support, encourage and build the capacity and resilience of local community groups that promote connection, cultural expression and inclusive community interactions across all ages and backgrounds.

• Increase opportunities to be active and involved in the community
• Maintain or increase quality of life in the
  Glen Eira
• Maintain the number of community groups awarded grants

• The opportunities to be active and involved in the community are reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  
• The quality of life in the Glen Eira is reported annually. Progress will be available in our Annual Report.
  
• We are on track to maintain grants awarded to community groups. We have awarded 92 grants to 85 community organisations, providing $402,403 in funding across our Small Grants, Facility Hire Grants and Annual Community Grants programs. This support helped maintain the number of groups we fund and strengthened community‑led projects that promote respect, diversity and inclusion.
  

• Adopt inclusive terminology for First Nations peoples and Traditional Owners
• Refine traditional owner engagement protocols
• Progress Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for Reconciliation Australia approval
• Complete review of Closing the Gap
  (CTG) report

We strengthened our use of inclusive and respectful language when referring to First Nations people and Traditional Owners, helping us communicate in a fair and culturally informed way.

In December 2025, we approved work to refine the Traditional Owner engagement protocols. Planning has begun for engagement meetings that will support stronger relationships and more meaningful partnership‑based conversations.

Council also endorsed the development of the Reconciliation Action Plan 2026–2028, which will set clear priorities and actions to guide our ongoing commitment to reconciliation.

We have not yet completed the review of the Closing the Gap Report. Insights from the 2024–2026 Traffic Light Report are being captured to support a future review.

• Council’s cultural diversity and inclusion policies and practices benchmarked across the whole organisation
• Diversity and Inclusion Framework adopted by Council

We’ve started the early work needed to develop our Diversity and Inclusion Framework. This includes mapping who needs to be involved and benchmarking our current policies and practices. These first steps are helping us build a solid foundation for a whole‑of‑Council approach to inclusion.

• Rainbow Ready Roadmap commenced
• Partnership with Pride South east Alliance formed
• Trans Awareness Week, Idahobit, and Pride Week events held

• Community Grants Policy endorsed
• Community Grants Guidelines released
• Revised grants program awarded
• Community Grants web page updated

• Scope prepared for a leadership program for community organisations including Service Level Agreements
• Community Contacts webpage updated

We started planning a leadership program to support community organisations, including work to clarify scope and participation. The Community Contacts web page was updated to ensure information is accurate, easy to access and ready for future improvements.

• Review of community and business awards programs completed
• One round of revised awards delivered

We completed the full review of the community and business awards and drafted a proposal to bring them together as one Glen Eira Awards program.Volunteer Recognition would continue as a standalone event, with a small Citizen of the Year networking event planned for 2026 ahead of the combined program launch in 2027. We also delivered the 2025 Business Excellence Awards, meeting the requirement to deliver one round of revised awards this year.

We will focus on the following priorities in support of
this objective:

• increase collaboration and partnerships to enhance the health, wellbeing and resilience of the community
• raise awareness of issues impacting our community, such as mental health, cost-of-living pressures, affordable housing, and homelessness

• Maintain or increase Glen Eira Leisure Every Body Active support hours 🔑
• Maintain or increase Glen Eira Leisure membership
• Decrease self-reported psychological distress
• Increase residents meeting physical activity guidelines

• From July to December, bookings for the Every Body Active program grew by 2.73 per cent, showing steady community demand. Session lengths shifted towards shorter one‑hour bookings, which meant total support hours delivered were slightly lower for the period.
  
• Our Glen Eira Leisure membership base
  remains strong and well balanced. Growth in our health and fitness memberships is helping to offset lower than expected swim school enrolments.
  
• Self-reported psychological distress is released every three years.
  
• Residents meeting physical activity guidelines are released every three years.
  

• Review of Glen Eira GET Active conducted
• Review of Glen Eira Active Recreation Action Plan conducted
• Revised approach presented to Council

We’ve drafted an internal framework to guide decision‑making across all recreation plans and masterplans. Further consultation will take place before the framework is applied annually to inform recommendations to Council through the budget process.

This work supports the reviews of Glen Eira GET
Active and the Active Recreation Action Plan and will shape a revised approach to passive and active recreation planning.

• Homelessness protocol developed and endorsed by Council
• Partnerships with local providers and community groups established
• Advocacy campaign

We drafted a homelessness protocol in partnership with local providers and held a forum to hear directly from service partners and people with lived experience. 

We also prepared a detailed homelessness advocacy paper to ensure community needs are clearly represented in future advocacy and partnership work.

• At least one school cycling event held

We’re partnering with Bicycle Network to support active travel to school. Coatesville Primary School and Caulfield Junior College will take part in Active Paths student workshops in early 2026, with safe‑route maps and wayfinding decals to follow.

We have also called for school participation in the third year of Glen Eira Open Streets. Caulfield Junior College will host events in March that temporarily close nearby streets during drop‑off and pick‑up times.

The program continues to show strong community benefits and has increased active travel participation across Glen Eira and other Melbourne schools.

• Free Active Communities program delivered
• Skin checks provided
• Hearing checks conducted
• Body scans offered
• Group exercise and wellness classes delivered

We delivered 50 free Active Communities sessions each week in November and December 2025, supporting residents to stay active and connected. The program will expand in March with additional class options.

Free hearing checks were completed across community facilities and will continue through the second half of the year.

Free skin checks will be offered in the coming months and body scans will commence in 2026.

There was a strong demand for group exercise and wellness classes, with 215,997 bookings from July to December 2025.

• Report on program design delivered
• Initiative delivered

Work to co‑design a new youth wellbeing initiative will begin once the Youth Engagement Team is established in 2026. The initiative will draw on findings from the 2025 Youth Engagement Survey.

Planning and scoping will occur through 2025–2026, with some early projects delivered this year.

We will focus on the following priorities in support of
this objective:

• raise community awareness of the harms from tobacco and vaping, alcohol and gambling and preventable illness
• promote healthy lifestyles by sharing information and encouraging behaviour change
• strengthen gender equity and prevention of family violence and all forms of violence against women and children

• 73 per cent or greater participation in maternal child health programs
• Maintain or increase immunisation attendances
• We will work to develop an indicator to measure prevention, promotion, participation and gender equity in programs over the life of the plan

• Participation in our maternal and child health program was 71.2 per cent, slightly below target. We expect participation to return to target.
  
• From July to December, our immunisation program recorded 2,091 attendances. We may see increased demand during a season of elevated influenza A and B.
  
• Work to develop this strategic indicator to measure prevention, promotion, participation and gender equity in programs is underway.
  

• Community education initiatives delivered
• Partnerships fostered including Women’s Health in the South East
• Internal training designed and delivered
• Advocacy campaign delivered
• Advocacy events held

We delivered the 16 Days of Activism campaign, hosted a Tomorrow Man workshop and joined the Walk Against Family Violence to promote respect and prevent gendered violence.

We strengthened our partnership with Women’s Health in the South East, who briefed Councillors on local government’s prevention role. 

We updated our Family Violence Prevention in the Community Policy and Statement of Commitment. We ran a communications campaign throughout the period to reinforce shared responsibility for preventing gendered violence.

• Advocacy campaign developed
• Community education program developed
• Partnerships with organisations formed to enable information sharing

We strengthened our advocacy and education work to reduce gambling‑related harm by renewing our leadership membership with the Alliance for Gambling Reform. We co‑signed a joint advocacy letter opposing carded play and pre‑commitment trials. We promoted Gambling Harm Awareness Week across our channels and continued sector collaboration through the Alliance for Gambling Reform and Victorian Local Government Association working groups, contributing to a submission calling for improvements to the Electronic Gaming Machine application process.

• Healthy alternatives available at outdoor events
• Healthy alternatives promoted as part of advertising

We offer a range of healthier food and drink
options at Glen Eira outdoor events. We’re working with vendors to prioritise choices, such as fresh food, salads and juices. These options are also highlighted in event promotion to support healthy eating in our community.

• Four campaigns promoting Glen Eira Libraries and what they offer, including Library of Things
• Maternal and child health healthy lifestyle programs delivered with consideration for the diverse needs of our community, including those who may face barriers to access or participation

Seasonal library programs continue every three months across digital and print channels. Targeted promotions for major initiatives, including the My Brother Jack Awards and BIG Summer Read, are sent to schools. Monthly e‑news reaches over 23,000 subscribers. Autumn program planning is underway, and the Library of Things has expanded to Caulfield with new promotional materials.

Maternal and Child Health continues to deliver accessible healthy lifestyle and early years programs,including Nature Play, Mother Goose, infant nutrition sessions, father-focused support, Lamm Library weekly playgroups and GEMS program connecting families experiencing vulnerability with information, support and community connection.