A support facilitator studying psychology, our first team member based in NSW and a brand new participant recruitment coordinator... meet the newest additions to the MosaicLab team: Polo, Polly and Gus! Learn more about this trio of terrific team members and gain some insights into who they REALLY are through their answers to our fast five questions!
How should we plan for the new energy future while providing affordable services that meet changing customer and community needs? Two representative ‘Voice of the Customer’ panels in Queensland answered this question. Randomly selected, everyday customers deliberated and agreed on recommendations that electricity distributors Ergon Energy Network and Energex used to prepare Regulatory Proposals for the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). Delve into a tale of two deliberative customer panels, and gain ideas and insights you can draw on for your next project.
We believe in supporting emerging and underserved people and communities to have deeper conversations that lead to stronger democracies. ML Giving is the new name of the not-for-profit part of MosaicLab - a banner for the work we do that gives back. We’re focussing on furthering community inclusion and action beyond just getting input and instead moving into enabling local decision-making. Explore the principles ML Giving will operate under, and the kind of projects and conversations we’re supporting.
Jemena Electricity Network has been implementing a comprehensive engagement program for the organisation's 2026-2031 Regulatory Proposal, employing a multi-dimensional approach to allow customers direct influence over proposed future pricing and services. MosaicLab codesigned and lead the facilitation of the process, that included a deliberative panel and brings diverse customer, stakeholder, and industry perspectives into the decision-making process.
As part of the development of Ausgrid's 2024-2029 regulatory submission, two randomly selected customer panels deliberated over a collective 10 full days. The panels, facilitated by MosaicLab and Gauge Consulting, considered how Ausgrid should look to the future while remaining fair to customers today. Ausgrid's three-year engagement process allowed customers to influence what Ausgrid spends customers money on, giving them a rare insight and influence over the cost of electricity, an issue that directly impacts the lives of everyday people.
We often hear councillors and staff saying they don’t need to involve the community in deliberation as it is the role of councillors, or any elected official, to deliberate on an issue and make decisions. It is important to note that deliberative engagement does not supersede or dismiss the role of councillors in making decisions.
In this #MonthlyMyth, we discuss the five main ways that deliberation can help decision-makers and add value, rather than take away their decision-making powers.
Deliberative democracy isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ type of deal. Deliberative processes can come in multiple packages, and deliberative elements can be integrated into a range of different engagement approaches. However, a truly deliberative process is built around some simple core principles, and it’s risky to call a process ‘deliberation’ if it doesn’t truly hit the mark.
So, what are the principles of deliberative democracy, and how would we know if a process wasn’t truly deliberative?
We're very excited to announce that Part 1 of our three part, animated video series on deliberative engagement is now here!
Part 1 in a three part series on deliberative engagement. In this short animation, we overview what deliberative engagement (or deliberative democracy) is, the six principles of this engagement approach and how it tends to be differ from many other engagement approaches.
Deliberative engagement is a form of meaningful engagement, and each principle covered in this video could be integrated into any engagement process. In Part 2, we'll explore when to do deliberative engagement, and when to consider other types of engagement approaches. So stay tuned!
