We are now entering a phase of renewal in local government.
At the beginning of this week I had the pleasure of announcing the LGAQ’s new Policy Executive team, elected by you, our members.
I must say how delighted I am at how diverse this leadership team is. There are 10 new faces among the 15 members. Four of the team are women and we have two experienced and highly respected indigenous leaders on-board again.
Three of the members are under 40 years old and their youthful views will no doubt be valuable as local government steps up its focus on innovation and smart investment.
All up, it’s a very well-balanced and capable group and I look forward to working under them all to ensure the LGAQ remains an unrivalled peak body.
A new Board and interim President will be elected at the Policy Executive’s first meeting next Thursday. The full-time President for the 2016-2020 quadrennium will be elected when the LGAQ annual general meeting is held at our Annual Conference in October.
Also this week, we led a Queensland local government delegation to the National General Assembly (NGA) in Canberra.
The timing was spot on, albeit gratuitously, and all council representatives made the most of the opportunity to put pressure on Federal political parties ahead of the election on 2 July.
We were armed with our 10-point federal election policy plan and left no candidate wondering what Queensland needs from Canberra.
A highlight of the NGA was hearing from guest speaker Nigel Jacob, co-chair of a specialist group formed by the City of Boston called the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM).
This team of specialists is charged with harnessing civic innovations. They are effectively an R&D arm of the council that tests and implements digital services and other new initiatives to improve the lives of Bostonians and visitors.
The LGAQ was instrumental in bringing Mr Jacob to Australia and, in conjunction with Brisbane Marketing, have arranged for him and his colleagues to tell Boston’s story at a special event in Brisbane today called Transforming Cities in an Innovation Era. The audience will be inspired, just as I was.
Speaking of being inspired, don't forget the LGAQ's Civic Leaders Summit is fast approaching. This event, on 13-15 July on the Gold Coast, is a great opportunity for mayors, deputy mayors and CEOs to network and share ideas.
Over the next week, we will be helping our Policy Executive settle in and ramping up our lobbying of Federal Election candidates in their final week of campaigning.
Exciting times ahead!