National Skills for Elected Members

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) at UTS has supported the development of a new course for NSW councillors called the Executive Certificate for Elected Members. The program is one of the first such programs to be based on the new National Local Government Training Package Skills Set for Elected Members, and was developed by project partners the Centre for Local Government at UTS (UTS CLG), TAFE NSW, and Local Government NSW (LGNSW).

 

Another unique feature of the program is that eligible participants of the Executive Certificate in NSW will be able to access further learning with TAFE NSW and UTS.

 

Joint President of Local Government NSW, Cr Ray Donald, said the Executive Certificate for Elected Members is an exciting step for LGNSW and its member councils, as it’s the first time such a high quality course has been offered to NSW councillors. 

 

“The Independent Local Government Review Panel’s ‘20 Essential Steps’ discussion paper emphasised the importance of councillor professional skill development and training, and this course will enable NSW councillors to achieve a Statement of Attainment for the National Elected Members’ Skill Set.”

 

ACELG Chairperson Margaret Reynolds also commented: 

 

“ACELG has enthusiastically supported the development of the Executive Certificate and I commend the project partners for their efforts. The program reiterates a key ACELG commitment to address specific skills shortages and gaps in the local government professional workforce. This course will help ensure local governments have the leadership capability required to meet the needs of the community and to effectively deal with the many challenges facing councils today.

 

"When I was elected to the Townsville City Council in 1979 there was no such course to assist new councillors understands their responsibilities as local government representatives. We had to learn on the job and I would certainly have welcomed the opportunity to attend a course designed to identify the key priorities of local councils."

 

The program was launched at the 2013 LGNSW Annual Conference on Wednesday 2 October by Joint Presidents of the LGNSW Interim Board, Cr Keith Rhoades and Cr Ray Donald.

 

The development of the Executive Certificate for Elected Members has acknowledged that councils are increasingly becoming large and complex organisations, in some cases, multi-million dollar businesses with large, diverse communities who expect much more from their council than traditional responsibilities of “roads, rates and rubbish”. The required skills-set of an elected local leader to effectively deal with the many challenges of a modern council is extensive.

 

ACELG Director Roberta Ryan said, “The course will help ensure local governments have the leadership capability required to meet the needs of the community and to create productive, sustainable and inclusive local places for the future.”

 

Recent ACELG research has informed the development and content of the program such as Future-Proofing Local Government: National Workforce Strategy 2013-2020 LINK (prepared by ACELG program partner, Local Government Managers Australia); Political Management in Australian Local Government LINK; and a number of issues papers from the ACELG Learning in Local Government project LINK.

 

The Executive Certificate for Elected Members will be delivered in a combination of regional and metropolitan locations in NSW over five days during November and December.

 

On completion of the NSW pilot, discussions will commence with other jurisdictions to identify partners interested in rolling out the program nationally.

 

For further information contact the Centre for Local Government on 02 9514 7884 or ippg@uts.edu.au