Strong governance is fundamental to delivering trusted, transparent and effective local government services. The Governance key result area (KRA) focuses on ensuring the City of Swan is well-led, accountable, financially sustainable and responsive to the needs of our community.
The Governance KRA is guided by two goals and supporting objectives shaped by community feedback and incorporated into the Strategic Community Plan 2025-2035 (SCP). These goals reflect the outcomes that matter most to our community and provide the framework for delivering effective leadership and governance across the City.
Empower and represent the community:
- Involve, engage and inform our community
- Communicate effectively and provide a consistent, responsive customer experience
- Advocate for and on behalf of the City’s community.
Leadership and good governance:
- Deliver transparent, accountable and ethical leadership that ensures responsible decision-making
- Ensure the sustainable and optimal use of City resources through continuous improvement and innovation.
The seven primary services that help us deliver our Governance KRA outcomes are Communications and Engagement, Customer Experience, Financial Services and Rates, Governance, Human Resources, Information Systems and Organisational Planning and Development.
| # | Measure | Target | How we are tracking |
| 1 | Percentage of community satisfied with the City of Swan overall | Maintain above 70% | 77% in 2026 79% in 2025 |
| 2 | Local government financial indicator | Maintain above 70% | 92% in 2025 96% in 2024 |
| 3 | Percentage of community who believe that the City provides good value for money | Achieve above 40% | 46% in 2026 46% in 2025 |
| 4 | Percentage of community satisfaction with the City’s customer service | Maintain above 65% | 73% in 2026 71% in 2025 |
| 5 | Percentage of community satisfaction with how the community is consulted on local projects, plans and issues | Achieve above 40% | 44% in 2026 43% in 2025 |
| 6 | Percentage of community satisfaction with how the community is informed about what’s happening in the local area | Achieve above 40% | 45% in 2026 48% in 2025 |
| 7 | Participation in community engagement per capita | Achieve average engagement of 1% or more across target populations | 1% in 2026 1% in 2025 |
| 8 | Percentage of community satisfaction with advocacy and lobbying on the community’s behalf | Achieve above 45% | 45% in 2026 44% in 2025 |
Empower and represent the community
The City empowers and represents our diverse community through meaningful engagement, responsive customer service and strong advocacy. We work closely with residents, businesses, government agencies and community organisations to ensure community priorities help shape our decision-making, planning and service delivery.
The Communications and Engagement service continues to deliver effective communication and engagement activities across the City, strengthening connections between the community and Council. During 2025/26, the team improved engagement practices and processes and supported the Strategic Community Plan 2025-2035 review. More than 3,400 community members took part, making it the City’s largest community engagement program to date. The Communications and Engagement team also held and supported a wide range of events across the City.
The Customer Experience service continues to improve how customers interact with the City by providing accessible information and support across multiple channels. We have investigated and implemented technology and process improvements to strengthen service delivery, including planning for a new corporate knowledge management system, telephone enhancements and improved customer feedback mechanisms.
The City ran a Community and Business Perceptions Survey in 2026. More than 1,700 residents and 150 local businesses took part. The survey supported the City's commitment to evidence-based planning by identifying areas of strength, emerging issues and opportunities for improvement.
The City also continues to advocate on behalf of the community through its financial and non-financial advocacy priorities, working with government and key stakeholders to secure investment, improve services and deliver positive outcomes for residents and businesses.
The City will implement the Swan Local approach to strengthen community access, engagement and service delivery through more responsive and community-focused services.
We will launch the Community Engagement Framework, including Aboriginal Engagement and Business Engagement guidelines, to support consistent and meaningful engagement practices across the organisation.
We will deliver the Customer Experience Action Plan to optimise customer contact channels, improve processes and provide responsive, professional customer service in line with the City's Customer Experience Charter.
Leadership and good governance
The City provides transparent, accountable and ethical leadership to ensure responsible decision-making and the sustainable use of community resources. Through strong governance, financial stewardship, workforce capability, digital innovation and organisational improvement, we continue to strengthen our ability to deliver positive outcomes for the community.
The Financial Services and Rates service continues to provide sound financial management, statutory reporting and long-term financial planning to support the delivery of community priorities and maintain the City's financial sustainability. Budget development, long-term financial planning and ongoing financial reporting remain key areas of focus.
The Governance service maintains strong governance, risk, assurance, legal, procurement and contract management practices, supporting compliance, transparency and informed decision-making across the organisation. Governance activities, election management and business continuity planning all progressed during the year.
The Human Resources service continued delivering workforce capability initiatives, including the Employee Development Program and Leadership Capability Program, supporting employee growth, leadership effectiveness and organisational capability. More than 300 employees started the Employee Development Program during 2025/26.
The Information Systems service strengthened the City's digital capability through cyber security improvements, implementation of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Plan and continued progress on major technology projects. The City also continued delivering the One Council Implementation Project to improve business systems, efficiency and customer service outcomes.
The Organisational Planning and Development service completed the major review of the Strategic Community Plan 2025-2035, aligned City service plans and major project plans to the new strategic direction and continued implementing improvements to business planning, performance reporting, policy and management practice reviews, and business process management. During the year, we documented more than 250 business processes and trained about 50 process champions across the organisation.
The City will continue to deliver the Leadership Capability Program and Employee Development Program to strengthen organisational capability and support future workforce needs.
We will continue implementing the One Council Project, including the rollout of new enterprise systems and a request management platform to improve efficiency, accuracy and customer service.
The City will continue embedding the Strategic Community Plan 2025-2035 through integrated planning, business planning, performance reporting and continuous improvement initiatives.
We will also continue to strengthen governance, financial sustainability, risk management and organisational performance to ensure the responsible and effective use of City resources.
You can find our other performance reports on the Our performance page.