Developing Melbourne Water's Community Focussed Diversity and Inclusion Lens for Enhanced Liveability Outcomes

Melbourne Water is a statutory corporation owned by the Victorian State Government. We are responsible for looking after Melbourne’s water supply catchments, treatment and supply of drinking water, removing and treating most of Melbourne’s sewage, providing recycled water for non-drinking purposes and managing around 25,000 km of rivers, creeks and drainage systems throughout the Port Phillip and Westernport region. Our vision is ‘Enhancing Life and Liveability’ and our goal is to improve the quality of life and prosperity of the region by providing safe, secure and reliable water services, desirable urban spaces and thriving natural environments supported by healthy waterways and bays. We work together with our customers and stakeholders to enhance liveability against a setting of population growth, increased urban density, a changing and variable climate, natural resource scarcity and community expectations for affordable services. Melbourne Water is committed to Enhancing Life and Liveability for all Melburnians. The Melbourne Water Diversity & Inclusion Strategy 2020-2025 includes an objective to apply a diversity and inclusion (D&I) lens in how the organisation plan and prioritise works to encourage diverse and inclusive community use of blue green spaces (waterways and land). The Integrated Planning group (Land & Collaborative Planning team specifically), want to drive a focus on applying D&I thinking around some areas including disability, culture, social disadvantage and gender to the way we plan, collaborate and deliver liveability outcomes on and around Melbourne’s land and waterways, ensuring our work leads to them being accessible and inclusive for more of the community. In partnership, the Land & Collaborative Planning team and Diversity & Inclusion team have sought the collaboration of Monash Sustainable Development Institute and partners from the Faculty of Law to undertake research that will seek to broaden Melbourne Water’s understanding and capacity to apply a diversity and inclusion lens in context of planning, co-designing and delivering outcomes for enhanced community enjoyment of nature and recreation. To achieve this, Melbourne Water will work with the Monash team to establish a concept, principles and guidelines for implementation for customer focussed diversity and inclusion for Melbourne Water.