Frequently asked questions

The Council is seeking feedback on:

• An Advisory Committees policy
• Terms of Reference for four proposed Advisory Committees

Feedback can be provided at this page on or before Monday, 7 November 2022. 

Council staff will collate all responses and provide a report to Council’s meeting in December with a recommendation on any proposed changes as a result of the exhibition process.

Council will then adopt a final framework which will be in place until the next term of Council begins (September 2024).

Advisory Committees use local skills, knowledge and experience to provide advice on the development and implementation of strategic priorities of Council that complements staff, consultants and Councillor competencies.

Council has used Advisory Committees for many years and they form an important part of the Council’s community engagement framework.

In line with the Council’s endorsed policy, each group of newly-elected Councillors determines the Advisory Committees they wish to operate. To this end, all committees are disbanded during the caretaker period prior to the election of a new Council. This term of Council ends in August 2024.

On 19 September 2022, the Council endorsed seeking community feedback on a new proposed Advisory Committee framework, which involves establishing committees covering the following areas:

• Active and Integrated Transport  
• Sustainability and Environment 
• Access and Inclusion 
• Community, Culture and Heritage

Under the proposed Terms of Reference document, each committee will be broadly responsible for:

• Providing advice on strategic issues and policy development 
• Providing assistance to support the development and implementation of key projects and initiatives
• Working with stakeholders to raise awareness and promote behaviour change within the community

The four committees have been proposed to:

• Align to the Community Strategic Plan (CSP) priorities, which were updated in June 2022. This means the committees will focus on policy and program areas that are a high priority for the community and Council.
• Deliver an environment which encourages these committees to provide robust advice on the implementation of strategic Council priorities after integrating and reconciling a range of differing insights and viewpoints from committee members and any more specific working parties they may establish to assist.

In addition, this proposed framework will ensure the Council can resource this number of committees as well as the other engagement activities we use to involve our community. This resourcing is currently being constrained by:

• The need to deliver Council’s 2022/23 projects and capital works program, which is one of the biggest Council has undertaken in many years.
• Universal staff shortages and increased illness within the community.

Each Committee plays a role in progressing key aspirations identified in the Community Strategic Plan and monitoring its implementation.  

The Committees would cover the following subject matters:

• Sustainability and Environment committee - sustainability and climate change, biodiversity and bushland and green power.
• Community, Culture and Heritage committee - resilience, arts and culture, open space and heritage.  
• Access and Inclusion committee - target segments such as aged, youth, disability, culturally and linguistically diverse, indigenous people.  
• Active and Integrated Transport  committee - cycleways, electric vehicles, transport connections, parking strategy, pedestrian movement, technology integration, movement and place.

It is also intended that the committees will be able to identify and provide advice on emerging trends and issues.

Further detail can be found in the Terms of Reference for each Committee.

Each Council term can determine if they wish to have Advisory Committees and their form. In line with the Council’s endorsed policy, the previous Advisory Committee structure ceased prior to the Council elections held in December 2021.

Since February 2022, Councillors have been discussing the optimal framework for Advisory Committees to operate during this term of Council. This does take time, particularly with eight new Councillors.

During this time, the Councillors have considered the revised Community Strategic Plan priorities; feedback from community members and staff; and the broader community engagement process.  

There has also been a long history of successive Council reviews of the committees and their engagement of past committee members in this process.

The proposed option of four committees enables the Advisory Committees to concentrate and progress a smaller number of key strategic initiatives, in their shorter term of Council, rather than a more thinly based approach across more areas.

The previous 13 committee framework was resource intensive and not sustainable given the significant projects and capital works program and the resourcing available.  

Yes. The proposed Advisory Committees will be able to continue to focus on, and make recommendations to Council on, niche areas within their portfolio, if these areas are aligned to the scope and role of the Advisory Committees (as outlined in the Terms of Reference).

In addition, the committees have the ability to establish working parties to examine further areas of detail.

No, the Advisory Committees only provide advice – they have no delegated authority to make decisions.

The Council’s governance staff will provide the secretariat role in organising the meetings, agenda, minutes and reporting to Council.

In addition, depending on the agenda items, relevant Council staff will attend meetings (if required) to provide information to the committees.  

Each Advisory Committee may have up to four formal meetings a year with a minimum of two meetings. This could be in person or via video conferencing.   

Working parties can be established to look into a specific issue in more detail and assist with progressing advice between meetings.   Members can opt into these working parties and additional non-committee members may be invited to join the working party thereby further strengthening input into advice.

Council staff will work with committee members to manage agendas and meeting timeframes for the committee meetings.

The initial meeting for each committee will focus on the strategic priorities and assist in identifying the focus for the committee for their term aligned to their purpose, notwithstanding issues may emerge over time.

All membership is voluntary (unpaid) and will be sourced through an open Expression of Interest process.

Each committee is expected to have 6-10 community members. These members do not need to live in the Local Government Area, but must have expertise in the relevant field and have the ability to connect with the community. 

It is anticipated that the majority of Advisory Committee members will be local residents.

Councillors are not members of the Advisory Committees, however are able to attend as observers.

This will allow Councillors to vary their attendance to where their interest lies, minimise conflict when items are returned to Council for consideration and provide the opportunity for a community member to Chair the committee and any working parties.

Staff are excluded from membership of the Advisory Committees, due to the potential conflict of interest with their role. A staff member from the Council's Governance team, and staff subject matter experts, may attend if required.

There are already many opportunities and mechanisms for Advisory Committees, individual committee members, and other individual members of the community, to participate in Council decision-making, as defined in the Council’s published community engagement framework.

This includes:

• Lodging comments and submissions 
• Participating in drop-in sessions, co-design and other workshops and webinars
• Addressing Council meetings

This framework is currently being reviewed to strengthen these engagement opportunities and mechanisms.

Council will consider all feedback received through the public exhibition period at the December Council meeting.  

Following a Council decision on the final Advisory Committee framework, expressions of interest (EOI) will be sought for committee members, likely to be by February 2023.

All people who engage on the Advisory Committee framework will be notified when the EOI process is open.