Key dates
Mark your calendar with important MAV events in 2025
2025
March 2025
Are Single-Member Wards Worse for Women's Representation?
Research findings from Deakin University
Date: Wednesday, 26 March, 2025
Time: 6:00 pm-6:45 pm
Delivery: Online, MS Teams
About this webinar:
All Councillors and Council CEOs are invited to hear about the impact, if any, of single-member ward structures on women getting elected at the local government elections held last October. This research is timely, given that single-member wards were introduced into many councils for the 2024 elections, and it is only now that their impact on broad community participation and local democratic governance can be observed.
We will hear from Associate Professor Amy Nethery and her team from Deakin University’s Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation about their research findings, and there will be time for Q&A. The session will also include a brief overview of the MAV's program of professional development opportunities for councillors, and our program of support towards achieving gender equality and the prevention of violence against women across the local government sector.
April 2025
The Mayor’s Role in Councillor Internal Dispute Resolution
Date: Friday, 4 April, 2025
Time: 10:00 am-1:00 pm
Delivery: In Person
Location: MAV Office
Address: Level 5, 1 Nicholson street, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002, Australia
Tickets: $250 ex GST
Morning tea provided.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the Mayor’s role in resolving councillor conflicts to
ensure effective governance. - Understand the legal framework, including your Council’s Internal Resolution Procedure, and how it fits within the broader Councillor Conduct Framework.
- Develop skills for early intervention and constructive dispute resolution.
- Maintain objectivity, professionalism, and confidentiality during resolution processes.
May 2025
Rural and Regional Planning Conference
Come join the conversation on how Local Government and the planning profession are responding to the greatest challenges and opportunities in rural and regional Victoria. With an aim to strengthen and support rural and regional communities, the conference explores how decision makers address matters from protecting agricultural systems, planning for climate change to engaging with Traditional Owners, housing affordability and rapidly changing demographics, to growing our towns and protecting valued landscapes.
This conference aims to increase knowledge and skills, build collaboration, and equip planning professionals and elected decision makers with new knowledge and ways to respond to local issues. The conference achieves this through promoting best-practise case studies and examples and by delving into policy issues that are driving the work priorities for planners in rural and regional Victoria.
Date: Thursday 22 - Friday 23 May 2025
Venue: Silverwater Resort, San Remo
Registration: will open late March; keep an eye out for the further information about registration