Listening Tour Week 4: VIC

21 -25 April

Listening, trusting, acting: the keys to real change.

Last week we visited the Millgrove Residents Action Group (MRAG). Nestled in a disaster-prone area of Victoria, MRAG shows the power of community-led resilience and long-term vision in action.

Their vision? To create a welcoming, safe, and vibrant place by being inclusive, caring, and positive - and that's exactly what we experienced with the PLACE touring team’s visit to Millgrove last week.

Over 20+ years, the MRAG group of volunteers has helped change perceptions of their town - once overlooked, now seen as a 'hidden gem'. MRAG embodies what it takes to shift systems: visible community planning, genuine consultation, quick decision-making, and strong, lively connections that hold the community together like a family.

• "We don't use the word 'can't"

• "The community will rise. Large institutions wait. But we don’t have time to wait."

• "We're trying to support community to be its own change.”

Community insight: What works?

In Millgrove, we saw the vital role of lived expertise and local leadership, especially in disaster resilience work across bushfires and floods. Volunteers are deeply embedded across CFA, SES, and local initiatives. MRAG’s free and open consultations show that governments value community insights, but often find them hard to achieve without trusted local partners.

There’s also a clear call: communities need planning expertise, trust, and quicker pathways to action. They are ready and waiting - for systems that listen better and act faster.