What made you want to work in Local Government?
I originally joined Glenorchy Council because it was going to give me a career path in ICT in my chosen area of corporate systems administration and development. However, over the years I have developed a strong appreciation for working in local government because of the diversity local government offers in ICT. Local government has many different aspects and requirements ranging from waste management and community services to financial and asset infrastructure management. Two days are rarely the same. I am always busy working on supporting different business units.
What made you join LG Professionals Tasmania?
My previous Executive Manager thought it would be good for my professional development outside of just concentrating on ICT. I have been a member now for over seven years and in 2016 I participated in the Local Government Management Challenge where I had the opportunity to further development my leadership skills and knowledge of local government. One of the new skills I learnt from the management challenge was public speaking and how not to pace like a caged lion when speaking. I highly recommend the management challenge to anyone who works in our industry.
What interests do you have outside of work?
My major interests are extreme gardening, kayaking on the River Derwent, travelling and my dogs. My dogs enjoy lots of walks and bossing me about the house. You may ask what extreme gardening is, it’s the total destruction of a friend’s garden and rebuilding it from the ground up. Don’t leave me in your garden unsupervised or it may end up in a large rubbish pile.
If you could give your 12-year-old self 1 piece of advice what would it be?
Always be supportive of your true friends and stand strong when the times are tough not for yourself but your friends. Remember love many, trust a few and always paddle your own canoe.
What is something most people don’t know about you?
When I was younger, I use to enjoy watching car racing especially the V8's. This also means that sometimes I liked to drive fast when the opportunity is available to me. I did this when in Croatia last year where the tollways have a speed limit of 130 km. I was told that they only consider it speeding when you drove over 150 km. Still would like to drive a sports car around the Nurburgring in Germany one day.
What do you think are some of the biggest challenges facing the sector at the moment?
I see three main challenges for Local Government. The first is community expectations where Councils are expected to deliver an increase in services and amenities while limiting increases in revenue rising.
The second will be climate change and the impacts that the change in climate will have on our lifestyles and communities. The climate in Australia has always been one of extremes and the challenge into the future will be to ensure that when the extremes hit, people are prepared with the knowledge and resources to respond. Local Government as well as our excellent emergency services will need to be at the forefront of this work.
The third is the ability to attract and retain workers who are willing to see local government as a long-term career. The local government work force is aging and as we retire, we need to attract younger workers to not just replace us but to challenge us with new ideas to improve how we work for the community.
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