This annual report documents the City of Melbourne’s performance over the 2008–09 financial year. It meets our obligations under Section 131 of the Local Government Act 1989 (Vic) and addresses the requirements of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 Principles for defining report content.

How the 2008–09 Annual Report relates to the council’s other planning documents

This report provides information on performance against the 2008–09 Annual Plan and Budget, which is part of our integrated planning framework.

This is the final annual report detailing the outcomes of Council Plan 2005–2009. In November 2008 a new council was elected for the Melbourne municipality and a new four-year Council Plan was developed based on the Future Melbourne Community Plan, the community’s long-term vision for the city.

This annual report also outlines the City of Melbourne’s performance. The Financial Statements contain financial information about the organisation and its subsidiaries.

Measuring performance

Our success is measured by progress toward the objectives of Council Plan 2005–2009 and the key strategic activities of the 2008–09 Annual Plan and Budget.

We use strategic indicators to monitor progress against our Council Plan, including standard Victorian local government indicators. Increasingly, we are incorporating the GRI indicators into our core set of indicators.

Sustainability reporting

Melbourne is a recognised leader in sustainability.

The ambitious goals of the Future Melbourne Community Plan inspire us to improve the sustainability of the city’s building stock, reduce carbon emissions in all areas of city life, and develop ways to capture, store and deliver potable water within the municipality and protect our world-renowned parks and gardens.

Managing and improving the disposal of waste and promoting recycling is increasingly important for reducing our ecological footprint.

Sustainability is core business for the City of Melbourne and we play an important role in educating the community and preparing for and responding to climate change.

The Global Reporting Initiative

The GRI is an independent organisation that provides one of the world’s most widely-used standards for sustainability reporting. The Sustainability reporting guidelines provide a framework to measure, track, report and compare economic, environmental and social performance.

The GRI’s Sector Supplement for Public Agencies recommends public agencies provide qualitative and quantitative information about their broader contextual environment, public policies, implementation measures and organisational performance. The City of Melbourne supported the development of these guidelines.

The reporting framework also includes the United Nations Global Compact’s 10 guiding principles covering human and labour rights, anti-corruption and environmental protection. Reporting against the principles is included in our GRI reporting.

See the GRI website at globalreporting.org for more information.

Sustainable approach to this publication

As part of our commitment to sustainability, in 2008 the City of Melbourne published its annual report online for the first time. A small number of copies of our annual report are produced in hard copy to satisfy the requirements of the Local Government Act 1989 (Vic).