Our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania's Future focuses on the issues affecting us most right now, and ensuring we have a robust local government sector is key to that.
A new regulatory framework applying to the recruitment and performance assessment of council general managers has been released today as part of our second 100-day plan.
Minister for Local Government, Nic Street, said the order complements the reforms achieved through the Local Government (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2023.
"The Act introduced a legislated requirement that councils appoint staff based upon a merit assessment, and also required councils to seek applications for general manager vacancies in most instances", Minister Street said.
"The release of the framework today gives the local government sector guidance on how to best do that."
Today's order:
- Introduces robust requirements to manage conflicts of interest in the recruitment of general managers;
- Sets guiding principles;
- Requires councillors to obtain professional support; and
- Establishes an annual performance review cycle based on agreed success measures.
"While many councils meet these requirements already, I expect this statutory baseline will support best practice across the local government sector", Minister Street said.
"Recruitment and performance assessment of general managers is among the most challenging functions of councillors and mayors."
"These measures will provide benefit for Tasmanian communities and are key to our ambitious reform agenda for local government," Minister Street said.
