Governments and public institutions are increasingly turning to deliberative and participatory processes to involve communities in shaping policy decisions. These approaches promise richer dialogue, more inclusive perspectives, and decisions that better reflect the public’s needs and values. But translating public input into actual policy is rarely straightforward. How can community voices be meaningfully integrated into policymaking in ways that honour the promise of genuine participation, while navigating the realities, constraints, and competing priorities of the public service? And how can we bridge the different worlds of understanding, language, and expectations that often separate policymakers from the communities they serve?

Join us for this webinar as we unpack both the promise and the complexities of embedding public engagement in policymaking. Drawing on perspectives that combine deep real-world experience with insight grounded in years of research, we will explore the practical, institutional, and political challenges of turning deliberative insights into tangible policy outcomes. Together, we’ll reflect on what it takes to move from dialogue to delivery — and how to sustain trust and momentum along the way.

Aunty Tracey Evans is a proud Gunditjmara/Bundjalung woman and Traditional Owner. She is an elected member of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, contributing to the historic negotiations for Treaty with the Victorian State Government. Alongside her leadership in the Assembly, Aunty Tracey brings extensive experience within both State and Commonwealth governments, where she has worked on innovative programs that advance outcomes for First Nations communities. She currently works in the Victorian public service, navigating the intersection of cultural authority and government systems to create lasting change.

Professor Carolyn M. Hendriks is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. She is a leading scholar of democratic governance whose research explores participation, deliberation, inclusion, listening, and representation. Carolyn’s recent research explores how citizens themselves are leading collective problem-solving efforts to address governance voids or to repair dysfunctional institutions. She has authored four books, including Democracy in Action (with Dzur, Oxford University Press, 2025) and Mending Democracy (with Ercan & Boswell, Oxford University Press, 2020), and is currently undertaking a major research program on strengthening contemporary political representation.

Moderated by Dr Emanuela Savini, Research Lead, Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance.