Making sure we are putting our customers first

Published on 17 June 2026

Council receives more than 100,000 customer enquiries and service requests each year, and we want every interaction to be clear, helpful and respectful.

As our community grows, so do community expectations for Council services. While most interactions are positive and customer satisfaction is improving, we know that issues can occasionally occur, including unclear timeframes, inconsistent information, or the need for customers to follow up or repeat requests.

To help address these issues and keep improving the customer experience, Council has endorsed its Putting Customers First Strategy 2026-29. The Strategy refreshes our approach and provides a clear framework to guide practical service improvements across the organisation.

“Maribyrnong is one of Melbourne’s fastest growing and most diverse municipalities. With this comes the need to ensure Council services are easy to access, and be clear, reliable and fair,” Mayor, Cr Mohamed Semra said.

“Improving customers’ experiences with Council will require change in our organisation, and the Putting Customers First Strategy sets out a clear guide of how we can do that. The community has been very helpful updating this Strategy and your feedback has been reflected.”

In August-September 2025, we received 317 responses from the community, telling us how they preferred to engage with Council. We were told there was a need for better responsiveness and clearer communication.

In April-May 2026, we went back to the community with the draft Strategy, which used community feedback, to check if it was still relevant and what they had in mind. We had 43 responses, and people were broadly positive about the strategy’s intent. The findings did strengthen the case for clear implementation, accountability and supporting policies.

Council endorsed the Strategy at the June 2026 Council meeting, and the aim is to help guide continuous improvement in customer service. Progress will be reported back regularly to the community.

Find the Putting Customers First Strategy 2026-29 at yourcityyourvoice.com.au/cs

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