An online consultation portal, Your Say Goulburn, is encouraging residents to submit suggestions for technologies the council could adopt. 

The council will also collaborate with local and community organisations to develop initiatives for the region.

“There are ways we can embrace these technological changes in aspects of our operations,” Cr Kirk said. 

“We can be a progressive and leading city council area and make Goulburn stand out amongst the rest.”

The pursuit of technology was tabled early this year following a presentation on the advantages of smart cities to council.

“As the Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, I am excited and proud to see my electorate leading the way,” said Federal Hume MP Angus Taylor.

“We want to work with our community to identify the highest value digital opportunities and investment for our region, and I encourage everyone to have their say on our digital future.”

Changes could include the electronic control of services, parking and site repairs. 

Cr Kirk said “nothing is in place at this stage” and was excited to hear the ideas of the people. 

“People will be skeptical of some aspects of it, but it would be mad not to make use of what’s available” he said. 

“There is a lot of anecdotal contributions and opinions on Facebook, but it is not a formal forum for making contributions to council activities.”

The council hopes to be “well placed” for the Federal Government’s Smart Cities and Suburbs program, valued at $50 million. Applications are open to local governments, private companies, research and non-for-profit organisations. 

Online submissions for the action plan will close on April 12 with a public consultation to be held in early April. 

The Smart City action plan is expected to be launched in late May.