Before the first item ¶
00:00:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Can someone wish to move the Confirmation of General Committee Meeting on 8th August? I'll move it. I'll be to second. Seconded by Councillor Lorentson. No need for discussion, I presume. All in favour? And if online? Speaker 1: Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yes. That's carried unanimously. We have no presentations. And we then have neither have we got deputations, but we have got one matter referred from the Planning Environment Committee, and that's the planning applications decided by Delegated Authority July 2025, which was referred here to affect the minor change. Speaker 5: That's correct. There is an amended attachment to the report, I think, Cathy, do you have a copy of that? So there was one matter that was identified as being approved, but it actually had been refused. Accordingly, the attachment has been updated to reflect that. You'll see there on the screen, the summary table identifies the changes, still showing
1 DECLARATION OF OPENING ¶
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2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY ¶
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3 ATTENDANCE & APOLOGIES ¶
00:01:00 the 63 applications that were decided through the course of the month, but just reducing the numbers of approval by one and increasing the refusals by one. And further, in the body of the report, the actual item has been identified as being refused as opposed to approved, I think it's nearly the last page, that's it there. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. And we have an amended recommendation. Happy to move it, Mr Chair. Moved. Councillor Wilkie, seconded. Happy to second. Councillor Lorentson, do you wish to discuss? No, thank you, Mr Chair. Anyone wish to discuss this matter? Okay, I shall. Okay, thank you. I'll put the motion. Those in favour? Councillor Finzel: Yes. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's carried unanimously. Thank you, Patrick. Thank you. Now we now bring up our Director of Corporate Services and Acting Manager of Finance to deal
4 CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES ¶
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4.1 GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 18 AUGUST 2025 ¶
00:02:00 with the Financial Performance Report for August 2025. Welcome. Speaker 2: Good morning, councillors. Good afternoon, councillors. Apologies. Speaker 7: Good afternoon. Speaker 2: I'll hand over straight over to Dave to take us through the Monthly Finance Report. Speaker 7: Good afternoon, councillors, and through you, Mr Chair. This report presents a summary of Council's financial performance. To the end of August under Section 204 of the Local Government Regulation 2012. As would be expected at this point in the financial year, there are no issues of financial concern from our perspective with how the organisation is tracking financially. Council's overall financial performance was a net surplus of $38.5 against a projected net surplus of $35.6, and our operating result was $34.8. Again, favourable. Against our projected surplus of $33.8 million. There are a number of attachments to the report, including the Statement of Income and Expenditure Statement of Financial Position.
7.1 PLANNING APPLICATIONS DECIDED BY DELEGATED AUTHORITY – JULY 2025 ¶
00:03:00 A little bit of a change in the way we're presenting our financial reports with the traffic light focus on the units across the board, both in terms of operating and capital. And then a capital financial performance graph. I do note that details on our financial performance of our capital program were given under separate cover through the Infrastructure Services Group. It's worth noting that our waste operations contribute about $4.4 million of that operating surplus to our general operating results, and details of the major variances in terms of both revenue and expenditure results. The trend that we reported last month in terms of rates, levies and charges continue with higher than anticipated waste charges of $106,000 and offset by lower than anticipated discounts and rebates.
8 REPORTS DIRECT TO GENERAL COMMITTEE ¶
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8.1 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE REPORT – AUGUST 2025 ¶
00:04:00 Again, there's no other points of concern, but it's worth noting that there are a number of other new grants that the organisation has managed to procure and they will be subject to further amendment in the next budget review. They include the Resilient Rivers, illegal dumping and food organics programs. In terms of operating expenditure, again, all favourable were under budget. In employee costs, materials and services and finance costs, employee costs are under budget. And that's mainly due to, well, there's across the board savings in nearly all the branches we've got in council. And thank you to our acting CEO for highlighting an error with our accruals at the end of the month. And so we had to rerun some journals.
00:05:00 But again, all favourable variances. And you would expect that there is a slight negative in that space with lower than anticipated capitalisation rates, and that's mainly due to the slow take-out of the Capital Works program, and that will be adjusted as the profiling for that program comes to fruition. So that's about it for operating in terms of capital year-to-year. And that's mainly made up of 0.4 in developer contributions, and capital grants of 3.2. I guess it's worth noting that the timings of those revenue streams is closely aligned to the delivery of the program, and developer contributions are really hard to forecast. In relation to our capital program, at the end of August, we completed, or managed to complete, $4.9 million, or 5.1% of capital's $95.8 million Capital Works program.
00:06:00 In terms of cash, we were sitting on, at the end of August, we had $137.3 million of cash reserves. And that compares favourably to what we were sitting on at the end of August, in the previous financial year. And that was $123.1 million. So I'm happy to take any questions and answers. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: We've got questions. I'll start off, and it's just maybe... Councillor Lorentson: That's right, you can turn left. Also, Councillor Stockwell, that's right, I have my hand up. Oh, no, no, just to let you know, I'm sitting next to you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Yeah. The commentary on employee costs, I couldn't quite work out how it got to $282. But can you, it talks about employee costs are under by $282, then mainly due to lower than anticipated vacancies at $1 million.
00:07:00 Yeah. The result is $1 million, so that's a certain amount below what we... Speaker 7: So basically, there's $1 million of vacancies across the board. Yeah. And they're being offset by lower capitalisation rates, which is about $340,000, remember, or $337. Yeah. There's some associated higher employee costs of $193,000 and overtime costs of $186,000. And the overtime costs of $186,000 can be directly attributable to the lower levels of vacancies. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So if we took those last three figures off, the $1 million would come up. Yeah, that's basically how it works. Thank you. Councillor Lawrington. Councillor Lorentson: I've got a few questions, but I'll start with the cash reserve $137.3 million. So every sort of report, we see it growing. My question's really probably a question to yourself, Marg, or possibly even to Kerri.
00:08:00 At what point does growing our cash reserve, now at $137.3 million, shift from prudent financial management to potentially underutilisation of public funds? And I ask the question, and I go back to our capital works program delays. I also went and had a look at our strategic investment policy, and there's no cap on how much we can invest with QTC. So great passive income, but at what point are we putting too many eggs in one basket? So question to you. To Marg, maybe to Kerri, or David. Speaker 7: I'll probably start with the last point. QTC is our highest secure investment strategy.
00:09:00 So that's, in some respects, that's why under the investment policy, we don't cap how many dollars we can have with that institution, effectively government backed. So, and it's, at the moment, we're drawing funds back from alternative institutions, because we're getting higher rates of return with QTC. The other issue of the higher cash balances is largely attributable to the fact that we've got delays in our capital program. And as we move through the financial year, we would expect those cash balances to decline. The other contributing factories, we've just issued our rates. So our rates, our cash balances would have an ebb and flow across the board. But you're right, at some point in time, Council will need to have a discussion about how much cash it is holding. Councillor Lorentson: Yeah, because there could be almost an over reliance, and it might stop us from really
00:10:00 actively getting into the space of diversification, when we know that we're getting this passive income by just putting as much as we want into QTC. And I think that's where we're at. And, I think that's where we're at, as far as, you know, other banks and other banking institutes. Speaker 7: Yeah, that's right. Our cash balances too are largely attributable to what we said we were going to deliver in the budget. So, if we said we're going to deliver 95 million, we work out funding sources and strategies to fund that body of work. And if we don't deliver that body of work in both operating and capital, our cash reserves will continue to grow. Speaker 2: And through the Chair, I could just make a comment there. Councillor Lorentson, it's common practice as well for councils at a particular juncture through a term that if they feel necessary, we can seek QTC's advice to do a surplus cash and debt review.
00:11:00 It's something that I've led in other organisations and it just gives that very high level strategic review and advice and potentially provide council in the community that we are managing our cash appropriately. Excellent. And also to give council and the community confidence that we're doing it appropriately and as you said, with the high level responsibility of spending public funds from our community. Thank you very much, Mark. Councillor Lorentson: So we can do that. We can do that. That would be great. Thank you. Absolutely. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah, I'd just like to reiterate something that David said quite softly but it's very important and that is that the cash at bank is constrained cash. It's there for the delivery of the capital works program, staff wages. It is essentially constrained cash and allows this council to do what it set out to do when we unanimously endorse the budget. Is there a question here? No. There is not.
00:12:00 Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. You might leave it till you have the motion. Sorry. Mayor Wilkie: Is that correct? Speaker 7: Now there's a question. Technically from, if I put my accounting hat on, it's not constrained. The constrained component rests with what's in trust or what is unspent levies. Pre-allocated, I should say. But there is pre-allocated dollars. You are correct in that we need to have sufficient reserves. And typically what we would like to see through the year, the target is three times our operating expenditure. But that's based on a yearly trend. So you are right. It is what we need to constrain. To maintain operations. To maintain operations. Yeah. Mayor Wilkie: Including a, is it, sorry, question. Does this include a reserve that's imposed by the state government? Is it three times?
00:13:00 Speaker 7: No. There's no reserve mandated by the state. It's recommended targets. Yeah. Right. But council, through its own processes, determines that it will constrain further sums of cash. Like it constrains a certain percentage of its operating board rates revenue for disaster management purposes. So I think there's about three or four million dollars. Yeah. That's very interesting. In that sense. That figure. There's constraints of 134. You can see that there's around six in trust. There's another three or four in disaster management. So that figure starts to whittle down. Speaker 2: Yeah. And through the chair again. If I just make another comment. Is that our sustainability ratios were in terms of prudent financial management. Having six to nine months cash cover. Is an excellent sustainability ratio result for our council. Yeah. Yeah. So that's in the event that we have something untoward or unplanned that we're able.
00:14:00 So the worst case scenario, something happens with our system and we can't issue our rates. As an example. We've got six months cash cover ratio, allowance there to continue our operations in the event of something extraordinary happening to our revenue sources. Mayor Wilkie: And Director Gatt, does the state require minimum cash cover? Yes. Speaker 2: Of three months. So we will exceed. The local government. Councillor Lorentson: 8.7. Yep. Yep. Great. Speaker 7: It's the targeted ratio. Yes. Mayor Wilkie: Yep. Yeah. I had a question. Just to go back to the one about the employee costs that Councillor Stockwell raised. If employee costs are under budget due to lower than anticipated vacancies. I thought. Sorry. Speaker 7: Higher than anticipated. Mayor Wilkie: Okay. Yeah. So higher than anticipated. Higher than anticipated vacancies. I thought it would be the opposite. I knew I had.
00:15:00 There was something. The opposite to what is written. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Apologies. Yeah. That's all right. Sorry. The other question I had was the, in the summary of key materials and service expenditure variances. Could you explain the 115,000 variance for communications and IT area? Yeah. That's mainly. Speaker 7: That's mainly our telecommunications charges. Our ICT contracts with our service providers. Mayor Wilkie: They're over one? Speaker 7: No. They're under a hundred. Okay. So what. Why is that? It's mainly. It's. I believe it's mainly a timing issue with the way the budget's been profiled against the actuals. And a lot of the variances we're getting at the moment are due to the fact that we have yet to finalise our profiling of our budgets. Mayor Wilkie: Okay. Thank you. Speaker 2: Sometime through. Through the chair again just to add to those comments. Sometimes it's very difficult to control how our vendors actually invoice us and the timing of when they invoice us. So that's again if we have a budget profile because we expect to be invoiced at certain
00:16:00 periods and frequencies and then that doesn't eventuate then that can cause those variances as well. So it's not an actual variance in expenditure. It's a timing issue. Okay. Mayor Wilkie: Yes. And final question Mr Chair. When do we expect to receive the Unity Water Dividend? When? What time of year is that paid? Speaker 7: I think the final dividend has been declared. Board memory I think we've budgeted for 2.1. I think it's coming at 1.95. We'll do an accrual at the end of the 25 financial year for 932. We've already done that. We've already received 1.1 million to date. We would expect that in the next. It may have already been received but I'd have to take that on notice as to when we would actually receive the final payment. But they have declared their values in their financial statements and we're looking to
00:17:00 accrue as I said 930,000 at the year end for that payment. Mayor Wilkie: And if I've read the budget documents correctly we're predicting 5.95 million from Unity Water Dividend? That's right. Are we close to that target? Speaker 7: Yes we've received I think we've received just over the 5.9 budgeted target for the 25 financial year and we're anticipating that we will receive the same amount for the 26 financial year. Thank you. Speaker 2: But through the Chair I do believe that it is 30th of September when we will receive that additional revenue. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Okay. I think Councillor Phillips online. Thank you. Speaker 3: I'll take it offline. It's a question for Director Gatt but it's fine. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. And Councillor Wilson. Thank you Councillor Robinson. Councillor Wilson: Just back on the employee costs again. The lower capitalisation rates.
00:18:00 Is that a timing thing again or is it capitalisation? Speaker 7: Yes. Through you Mr Chair. Basically it is. It's because we've only spent a small amount of our budget on capital to date. We've we assumed that we would get certain rates of from operating to effectively capital. That hasn't happened today. We're expecting that that will pick up as the year progresses and that variance will mitigate the up. Councillor Lorentson. Councillor Lorentson: Again employee costs and workforce pressures. I note that they're not listed under risk. And I think it's important to note that there's a lot of work to be done. There's a lot of work to be done. But probably just to go back a little bit. So overtime and other employee costs were higher than expected. And employee costs were under budget and correct me if I'm wrong but I've understood that's because there's higher vacancy and turnover.
00:19:00 So my question are what risk does high staff turnover pose for service delivery, financial performance and more importantly retention of corporate knowledge. And are there any specific departments that are experiencing higher turnovers or vacancy rates than others. And again same question. What risk to the organisation does that pose. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Just before you answer there's quite a few questions there that are ones that are broader than our financial report. And asking finance staff about matters that are probably organisational wide. I think if we can respond on those matters that do our finance and take the others on Speaker 7: notice. Through you Mr Chair the main vacancies are within infrastructure services and corporate services.
00:20:00 Councillor Lorentson: And corporate services. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: And we can take the rest on notice. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Happy to move Mr Chair. Moved Councillor Wilkie. Seconded. Seconded. Councillor Wilson. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you for the extension of the financial report. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Wilkie. Yes. You can talk to the motion. I just did. That's it. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Others wish to talk to the motion. I shall just the query about or the questions regarding the level of surplus cash. There's obviously you know in the technical review there's a lot of questions about the capital works budget. There's certainly some very significant expenditure proposed particularly around the waste area.
00:21:00 That would see that balance quickly come down if we were to proceed in with some of those larger projects. Others wish to talk. Councillor Lorentson: Just a shout out to Marg and your team. You guys do a lot and these reports don't just happen. So I just really want to acknowledge the hard work that you've done. We've got some really good reports that bring these reports to us every month. Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Anyone else? Councillor Wilkie. Who's first? I'll put the vote. Those in favour? Yes. That carried unanimously. Thank you. We then move on to the next item which is a proposed amendment that's aborted in Local We have the Acting Manager and the Director here to run us through the outcomes of that process.
00:22:00 Speaker 9: I'll just read the Executive Summary as written, if that's okay. The Special Meeting on 30 June 2025, Council resolved to propose to make Parking Amendment Subordinate Local Law No. 1, 2025. Council also resolved to commence community consultation with the intent of amending Subordinate Local Law No. 5, Parking, 2015. Accordingly, community consultation was undertaken on proposed amendments to Schedule 3, infringement notice penalty amounts for certain minor traffic offences over a 21-day public period from 25 July to 15 August 2025. A total of 58 submissions were received, with 38 considered properly made.
00:23:00 Feedback revealed community support for the proposed amendments, particularly in relation to discouraging overstaying, misuse of disability spaces and illegal overnight camping. However, some concerns were raised regarding Council's enforcement. In response to this, Council proposed to make Parking Amendment Subordinate Local Law No. 1, 2025, as advertised, and adopt the consolidated version of Subordinate Local Law No. 5, Parking, 2015, as outlined in the report. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Questions? Any questions? Mayor Wilkie: Thank you for the report, Ken. In some of the submissions, you mentioned that there was, they raised concerns about Council's capacity to enforce.
8.2 PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO SUBORDINATE LOCAL LAW NO. 5 (PARKING) 2015 - PUBLIC CONSULTATION OUTCOMES ¶
00:24:00 Could you talk us through some of the improvements that have taken place in Council's capacity regarding parking enforcement, involving technology? Speaker 9: Yeah. So, some of the technology that we've done, we've done in the past, we've done in the It's been very beneficial to us. So at the moment we're using a lot of our, I guess, local intel. We're also using more of the technological advancements that we have made, and particularly the parking car is probably a primary example of that. The parking car has been a very good tool for us at the moment in terms of monitoring particular zones and providing a lot of intelligence on where the problem areas are within the Shire. And there's so much more to resolve from that too, through the use of AI as well, which
00:25:00 those cameras are. So that's really at the start of things for us. That's probably the major example that we have, but there's a lot of potential for us to utilise that technology to provide a lot more intelligence around the Shire in terms of the infringement areas, the hot areas. In terms of monitoring before we do camping patrols, for example, the car has been really good in terms of seeing the potential problem areas so we know the areas that we're going to hit. When we undertake the camping patrols with the police. So that's probably the primary example that we would have. Mayor Wilkie: Could you qualify in terms of the number of complaints received about how illegal camping has driven some of these changes?
00:26:00 Speaker 9: Well through the Chair, illegal camping has been an issue across all coastal councils, and this has been no exception, but it's a very topical issue and it's a very visible issue. So it is a component of the changes. These changes have been coming at us for quite some time and don't just refer to camping. We obviously have, we get a lot of feedback around the misuse of disability car parking spaces. That's a big one for us. We get a lot of frustration in the vulnerable segments of the community about misuse of those spots. We get feedback from the business community around loading zones and how those zones are misused as well. Obviously for vital deliveries and whatever else when you have normal cars parked in there. So camping is a very visible part of the overall package.
00:27:00 It's a very important part too because it does tend to be a very visible part of the outcomes in terms of community and whatever else and bad outcomes for residents and tourists. So it's a part of the overall package, but not the only component. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. And final question. In the submissions, cost of living impacts was raised as a concern. Could you place that concern in some sort of context, please, about how these laws actually work? Speaker 9: Three of them. The cost of living expenses, it was raised, but I think it's important to identify that this is not the same. These proposed changes are not the same as, say, increased utility charges, say water,
00:28:00 electricity, or even registration. So it doesn't apply to every motorist within the Shire, every motorist within the state, every motorist within Australia. These charges apply to all motorists within the Shire, every motorist within the state, and they apply to people who are infringed. And that's quite a different scenario to applying it across the whole community. And we're not saying for a moment that there's not an impact. When you are infringed, obviously, it's not pleasant. However, in context, it's not the same as the charge that everyone bears in the community. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. And there are appeals processes in place? There are appeals processes in place. Should someone feel aggrieved? Yes, they are. Speaker 9: And there is. And they, they're important processes through the Shire, because they, people who are aggrieved by receiving the infringement, they can set out the reasons why they think they shouldn't
00:29:00 be infringed. And then it's up to a separate process through our appeals officer to look at that. So that stands aside in terms of good governance and transparency. So that's a separate process. That's quite an important process. And then, you know, sometimes those appeals are upheld, and sometimes they're, they're the other way where they, they are, they go through. So, yeah, I mean, that process is very important to us. So, and that will stay. Mayor Wilkie: Yeah. So similar in principle to incurring a speeding ticket. You only, you only incur it if you're infringed, and then you have an infringement. Yeah. Speaker 9: I mean, through the Shire, it only applies if you're a speeder. If, if you, if you're not infringed, then it just, it doesn't apply. So it's quite different, as we said, to registrations and whatever, assuming that you're not in
00:30:00 a vehicle. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Thank you. Any other questions? Councillor? I do. Councillor Phillips? Speaker 3: Thank you. Just a few questions. Thanks for the report. Just checking how it goes through a legal review. Is that internal? Just to ensure that for local laws there's always consistent, I guess, consistent across the board. Is that how it normally goes? To review without ballots? Speaker 9: Through the Chair. Councillor, do you mean in terms of this amendment process? Or is that what you're talking about? Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3: Yeah. Through the amendment process, if you, does this just get a, a legal overview? Please. Is there a way? Speaker 9: Yeah. Okay. So through the Chair, it, it does get a legal overview. And we've used King & Co, which you see in that report. They're, they're the kind of preeminent lawyers for legal law review within Queensland. And, and if not, further afield.
00:31:00 So the, specifically the wording around the recommendation, the format of the attachments, the wording of sections, say, is a human right. Section. They're, they've all been subject to legal review. So there is a specific process that we need to, to go through, Councillor. To make sure. And, and also I'm looking at the anti-competitive provisions there under item number six. So there is a specific process that we need to go through. And I'd also mention as well, we referenced the local law making process within the report as well, Councillor. So there is a specific process that we need to go through. And that process is made in accordance with the Local Government Act. So there's quite a bit of legal oversight and procedural process, if I can put it like that, to go through when you're proposing to amend a subordinate local law.
00:32:00 Okay. Speaker 3: Okay. Yeah, this is, this is just, I've got a few for life. Do you want me to go through all nine, or go? Fire away. A lot of them will be from, from, you know. I'm just looking from a community perspective, Clint. So even though I probably understand exactly what you're saying. Yeah, sure. So my questions are just to make it really transparent. What's the plan, what's the Council's plan to communicate the parking, what the local law that's coming to us today? How will that now go out to the public? Speaker 9: Yeah. Yep. Thank you, Councillor. Through the Chair. So seeing the report on the eight and the next steps, so there's a notification process that we need to undertake now and, or assuming that these are adopted. So that's a notice within the Queensland Government Gazette. And also there's a posting on Council's website, a posting, a notice, I should say, on Council's
00:33:00 website. And obviously they're, they're going to be, they're going to be, they're going to be, there's public access to that law. And there's a whole procedural process there. But to answer your question in short, Councillor, yes, there is a public process, a notification process that needs to be undertaken. Speaker 3: Okay. Great. Thank you. Just a follow-up question then when it comes to the revenue from local laws, where does that go in our budget for, you know, what's the, what's the, what's the, what's the, what's the, what's the, what's the revenue generated? What was, when is that set? Speaker 9: Through the Chair. What do you, oh, well. This goes into the general cash reserve? Yeah, well it sits in, yeah, it sits within our budget and under the reserve. So that's where it sits, so. Speaker 3: Okay. Yeah, I guess my, my intention was to see like how the money's spent back into say a
00:34:00 camera car and education. That was a line for the community to understand where the revenue goes. Is that clear? Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, that's fine. So through the Chair, and we make reference to that too, Council, within the report as well. So all of the proactive patrolling that happens now, that is all funded via revenue. So what we're talking about here as well in this report is that if there is any increase in revenue, and that's on the assumption that there's no behaviour change. I mean, ideally for us, Councillor, we would have behaviour change and there would be no revenue emanating from these changes. That would be a great thing. But if there is revenue coming in from this, we'll be using that to hit some of those or more proactively patrol some of those problem areas
00:35:00 and the Mayor mentioned before around illegal overnight camping, for example. We get that pop up in all areas of the Shire, to be honest, but particularly the coastal areas. So any realised revenue will be put back into those patrols, improving behaviour and trying to enhance the community amenity and liveability. So it'll be put to good use. Speaker 3: Okay. And does any of that go into our, like the signage? Just so I'm thinking about making sure that we're trying to deter. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor, we're going into a very general discussion about how Council budgets. We're not talking about the subordinate local law. So I'm not going to allow you to question. Speaker 3: That's fine. I've got one more around local law apologies. I'll take that one off the line then.
00:36:00 Just in relation to QPS information sharing, if there was complaints that come through them around parking spots that they've identified, how does that information share back with our local laws to make sure that they're targeting the same complaints that might come through a different process? Speaker 9: Yeah. So through the Chair, Councillor, we meet with QPS quite regularly on a quarterly basis. So we've got, so we do that formally at that stage, but we've also got very good lines of communication. So they're communicating with us constantly on problem areas and issues within the Shire. So, and also, we also undertake those Queensland Police Service compliance inspections, particularly around the illegal camping. So there's another opportunity there where the two agencies get together to try and produce some better outcomes from that perspective. So yeah. In short, we meet formally, communication lines are very much open.
00:37:00 So we're in a very good information sharing space at the moment. Speaker 3: There you go. Thank you. Thank you. Nothing but fun. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Wilson. Do you have a question? Councillor Wilson: No, I think I was just pointing at something. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Oh, okay. Councillor Williamson. Councillor Lorentson: Just a couple of questions. Clint, you mentioned the ideal, the ideal outcome would be changing behaviour, which means less infringements. Are we expecting then to get a 12 month review to actually measure that behavioural change? Is, will you at some point come back with a report and just let us know, is it working? Speaker 9: Has it, sorry, through the Chair, has the, has it changed behaviour? Yes. Has it changed behaviour? Councillor Lorentson: And I know it's not one in isolation, but given that that's the drive. Okay. So I'm happy to report on anything.
00:38:00 Speaker 9: Can do. Look, behaviour change, it's, you're talking about a trend that's, I mean, lots of things that can happen where people would argue then that behaviour hasn't changed because in this area it's come up again. But I mean, I'm, I'm happy to come back to Council and report on overall. Trends on how things are going as an update report. Perhaps we can do that via some other mechanism rather than a report, maybe quarterly reporting in Council. I don't know. But look, as a, as a, as a broad in the context, I'm happy to report on, on these matters. It's just probably going to be precinct specific as well and may not be able to be put down to a specific, you know, issue. Councillor Lorentson: I think my question was maybe a little bit leading Clint and there was a reason for it and it's probably going to lead into the next question.
00:39:00 So behavioural change in terms of illegal camping and we had the discussion beforehand about whether as part of future local law changes that we should actually be considering creating a different category for illegal camping, that it's not just a vehicle and shouldn't be treated as a vehicle. The impacts, whether it's environmental and amenity are greater for a camper with three, four people parked alongside the national park than someone who's had a big night out and left their car at the national park. So can you explain to me, is that something that we will consider? Yeah. Speaker 9: So through the chair, I do appreciate the pre questions. I'm now prepared. So the camping side of things is contained within local law number four. So there's a penalty unit that applies or two penalty units that applies to camping in there.
00:40:00 So if we wanted to, you know, increase that would come under another local laws review. So it doesn't sit within parking. It sits within local law number four, which is related to camping provisions. So what it means though, in terms of this, while we can't make the amendment here and now, we can do it as part of a future local law review. So if the council feels that the infringement amount is not enough for camping, it can increase those number of penalty units. Sorry. A penalty unit. A penalty unit is $166. We can, the number of units that apply, we can increase. Councillor Lorentson: That, I actually think it does fit into this local law, Clint, if you can just sort of
00:41:00 bear with me. So parking a vehicle for the purposes of overnight accommodation. So the issue I think we have with parking a vehicle as opposed to parking a person is really different. Yeah. It's easier for us to infringe a vehicle. It's safer for local laws officers just to drive past and infringe them. At the moment, the issue with infringing an illegal camper is that you physically need to get the person out of the camper van in the middle of the night and hand them over the fine. So I'm wondering under this local law, which is parking, whether we can create a category for vehicles that park overnight and then define what that looks like. Speaker 9: I guess we're off. Okay. So. Councillor Lorentson: Sorry. Speaker 9: Sorry. Do you know? Councillor Lorentson: Yeah. Speaker 9: I kind of do. Yeah. So I guess what I'm saying, just to go back to the basics here with this, for this report,
00:42:00 the amendment is, the proposed amendments are as we, as put on the screen. Yes. What I'm saying is, is that, and it doesn't matter about what, where it kind of sits. I guess what I'm outlining as a process is that these amendments are as they sit. If we want to make future changes to them, we can certainly look at how we, how we do that. And I'm happy to take legal advice, process advice about how we get the right outcome for the community. So I'm not saying no to that at all. Can I just add? Yeah. Speaker 8: And further to your point, Amelia, I think the challenge with trying to fit in the, that differential, what you're stating is that there's still an entry requirement. So even if there's a person in the vehicle, you still need to understand where they, you know, occupying it overnight. So I guess that's where some of our other tools like our signage and parking management plans and the like can help to assist to deter those sorts of practices as well.
00:43:00 The challenge at the moment, as you pointed, is for camping patrols, there's a requirement there to essentially obtain evidence regarding the person there overnight sleeping in it as opposed to just parking the vehicle. So that's, you know, currently asked, but based on those two evidentiary elements, one is it purely the vehicle based and one is the actual camping activity. So, but we can take that on board for future local review rounds. Absolutely. I appreciate it. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Speaker 4: Any amendment would have to follow the same process. Which is a very big process. Councillor Lorentson: I understand that with interest. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Finzel, you've got your hand up. You've got a question. Councillor Finzel: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. A lot of them have been answered around the table. Thank you everyone for your input and for the staff of the reports. Given the need for alternative solutions was raised post the community feedback, I think
00:44:00 there's a lot of work and given the conversation around the table. What is the plan towards investing in further education around these issues to the public around, you know, things we've discussed around the camping, for example, as opposed to like a parking violation? Is there an intention to be providing further education and how is that to be managed? Speaker 8: I'm happy. Yeah, I'm happy to answer that, Councillor. So we obviously, with this piece of work itself, we will publicise. This obviously goes through a gazettal process and then we will push out some comms as well around this particular change. There's also mention and then we're working closely with our traffic and transport team who are undertaking a lot of work at the moment regarding parking management plans and looking at locality-based parking management and making sure it's fit for purpose and effective at regulating and managing behaviour and parking that meets the needs of our community and businesses.
00:45:00 So that work is sort of underway and this is, I guess, one small piece of a bigger piece of work that Council's undertaking regarding managing and dealing with congestion and parking more broadly. So there will be ongoing work that will be undertaken with local rules but also with our traffic and transport team to really spend a lot more focus and education and awareness and obviously things like signage will be looked at as part of the upcoming and ongoing use across the Shire. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay, I'm going to move the motion. Councillor Lorentson: Yes, you. Sorry, I've got a question still. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll talk first and then ask the question. Okay. Yeah, so the amendments that's proposed are there to increase the deterrence and to try and make this relatively equivalent with like councils. It was interesting about the concept of the cost of living crisis. I mean, it's not just about the cost of living. It's in fact not enforcing parking regulations and not increasing the deterrence.
00:46:00 It's probably having an impact on cost of living. Not only is it more difficult to find a car park if people are overstaying and people are spending extra on petrol, but it's also the fact that if we're not raising the revenue through enforcement, we're not paying for the staff and therefore the general rate have to pay for them. So in fact, to me, if you're looking at reducing the cost of living, you want to make sure you comply with the effective. And so what this does in the majority of the offences, it increases the penalty cost of about $41. Now, it would be interesting to monitor to see if that $41 is an extra deterrent or if it's a deterrent in some areas, say the Hinterland versus Hastings Street, because the anecdotal advice is that a number of people get a fine in Hastings Street and they say, well, that's how much it normally costs me to park anyway. So increasing it by $41 doesn't make a difference. The big one that does change, obviously, is parking in the disabled zones.
00:47:00 And that's gone up by two penalty points or over $360. So that's obviously to really reinforce that we have a lot of need for those disabled spots to be kept for the right places. So I support the amendments. I think that they go in the right direction. I think it would be interesting to see if we can plot a percentage increase or decrease. That would be interesting. But as you said, there will be other factors that are beyond our control that may influence the number of visitors in town, for example. But there may be ways to just assess if the dollar figure in any advertising of such does act as a further deterrence. So, Councillor Lodge, you have another question? Councillor Lorentson: Yes. It sort of ties in with what you just said, Councillor Stockwell. So the submissions really highlighted the shortage of disability bays and the fact that they're being misused. In terms of signage, the increase, the penalty is actually $668, which is substantial.
00:48:00 It would be really great to have that actually on the signage, because I think that would be probably one of the major deterrents. $668, whether you're going for a surf or Hastings Street shopping, is $668. It's a lot of money. So just a question. Will you be considering putting the actual amount on the signage? Speaker 9: Through the Chair, I would have to think about that, because the penalty unit changes every year. I was going to add to that, Councillor. Speaker 8: Yes. So the challenge would be is every year we would need to increase and change all the signage across all disability parking bays to have the amount. Yes. So that's, I guess, the challenge. The penalty unit is changing every single year. But I agree with you around- Councillor Lorentson: A removable waterproof sticker. Just peel it off.
00:49:00 Yes. Speaker 8: Yes. So we'll have to think about the ways in which other messaging that can be used to help deter people who do targeted focus areas. Speaker 9: We probably, through the Chair, Councillor, we probably, I mean, off the back of the notification period of this, we probably would have to do that. We would probably get into a more- Councillor Lorentson: Periodic. Speaker 9: Periodic. Yes. But a more regular kind of advertising, updates. Excellent. Around did you know parking here could, I think that's probably a more efficient way of us- Agree. Getting the message out. Perhaps then the signage, I'm not discounting the signage, it just comes to my mind that maybe we should do more updates. And it's something that Richard and I have been talking about in here too, a bit more proactive, as we talked about earlier today, about what we're doing in these spaces and around the education. Because it's not just the compliance part.
00:50:00 No, it's education before compliance. So kind of going along with what it's saying, I think there's probably a suite of different things that we can do that would probably be quite effective. So we could probably take that offline. Have a look at that suite of alternatives as well. Councillor Lorentson: Excellent. Thank you. Clarence. Councillor Finzel. Councillor Finzel. Councillor Finzel: My apologies, I can't get my hand down. Okay. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: My hand's up. So from now on in the meeting, just let me know if you've got a question. Do other people wish to talk to the motion? Councillor Wilson. Councillor Wilson. Councillor Wilson: Just very, very briefly, I'm going to say I support the recommendation and I'm just noting that these fees are avoidable. Mayor Wilkie: I'm not going to speak now because Councillor Wilson has shamed me by her brevity. But I support the amendment. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: What he said is a better three-minute question. You said it in one sentence there.
00:51:00 Others? I will close it. I actually was thinking about this. I was thinking about the idea of signing. But I would think that if we had a few strategically catered signs about illegal camping. Camp here, $666. Camp at one of Council's caravan parks, $35. And let them make the decision. But yes, I think. Okay. So that's all I have to say. I'll put the motion. Those in favour? Councillor Lorentson: Yes. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: All of you. That's carried unanimously. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanks. Thanks, Clint. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you, Hayley. See you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: So the next item is. Thanks. Item three. Workplace health and safety and reports. 24, 25. And we had to wreck the gap. And two workplace health and safety-looking people.
00:52:00 With one. Speaker 2: And we also have Craig. Craig Hodgson. Both Julianne and Craig will take you through the annual workplace health and safety report. Thank you very much. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: You're welcome. For your first meeting. Thank you. And as normal, I'll take up a half question for you. Speaker 6: Would you like to start? Yeah, I'm fine. So this report provides a summary of the workplace health and safety activities undertaken by Newsy Council through 2024 and 2025. Council transitioned to workers' compensation insurance provided from local government, LGW, over across to Queensland WorkCover. We completed this in November last year.
00:53:00 It represents a cost in the savings to Council. The achievement is 1.6%. Reduction to our premium, which is based on your total work wages. So that's the first one. And from the councillors, it's down to 0.5%. So you came from 3.2 down to 0.5. The WH team completed 157 suitable duty plans for work and non-work-related injuries. This assists employees to return to work, reducing lost time. There were 13 LTIs in the financial year. Most of them were repetitive movements, strains, cuts. To hands and required medical attention. And they were off to work. Also, in that point, we reduced our MCIs by three. Increased our near-miss reporting, which is great. It prevents injuries, which is a very positive.
8.3 Workplace healtH and safety Annual Report 2024/25 ¶
00:54:00 And as consequence to health and safety, reps leading at toolbox stores that highly value the reporting of near-misses. We also reduced the end-to-end reporting, which is a very positive. We also reduced the number of cases involving property to council and cars. And the rest of them are about the same. Remediation from the WHS to reduce LTIs included rotating of tasks between employees, awareness to awareness of repetitive injuries, and training in PPE, equipment, and manual handling training, which is ongoing. Council has not received any notifications from the council. They have not received any incidents or notifications from WHSQ or the Electrical Commission Office. WHS are working to reduce outstanding actions down from 189 to 63. The WHS team continues to close out the remaining actions in cooperation with the respondent
00:55:00 areas. The inspections, there was 250 corrective actions were completed in the year 2025, and an increase of 150. That's 152 in a year. The WHS team completed flu vaccinations, hearing tests and silica medicals, skin checks, and mask fitting testing over the financial year. The WHS team has coordinated approximately 800 appointments across council to ensure compliance with the WHS Act, health and wellbeing of our council employees. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That's basically the report. Thank you. Questions? Councillor Lorentson: I'll start. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Council Larkin. Councillor Lorentson: Just in terms of how we're going compared to other Queensland councils, have we benchmarked? I'd really love to understand, you know, all sorts of things.
00:56:00 Claim costs. What are our claim costs compared to other councils? What's our LTIFR compared to other councils? Just to really see how we're faring. And Council with similar tiers as Noosa Council. Speaker 2: Through the Chair, I'm happy to answer that. Thank you. Whilst we don't have that detail in this report, we usually do extract that from our insurer. Excellent. They provide that detail and it's a public record. So we can take that question not on notice. I'm partially responding to it, and I can provide that information to you at a future date. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. And there was a lot to unpack in this report. Will there be an opportunity for the councillors maybe to unpack some of this information? Just to understand, you know, someone that's absent for an injury, is it a major injury
00:57:00 or not such a significant injury? Can that opportunity be afforded to us at some stage soon? Speaker 2: Through the Chair? I've had a conversation with the CEO and the Acting CEO around providing some more background data to assist the councillors in understanding what the data is telling us. Obviously, we keep confidential information confidential in terms of, you know, staffing names and et cetera, et cetera. So just as an example as well, we've probably been a little bit remiss of myself not to explain what the acronyms stand for. We just assume that everybody knows what an LTI is and what an MTI is. So lost time injury and a medical time injury, et cetera, and things like that. So yes, we'll take that request on notice, and I'll work with the Acting CEO to see when we can schedule that in to provide you a little bit more understanding as to what's behind
00:58:00 the metrics. Appreciate it. Councillor Lorentson: And I've got a lot. I'll just ask one more for now. The first thing that sort of stood out when I opened the report is council has had no WHS audits this financial year. Why not? Is probably the question. Speaker 2: I can actually hand that over to Craig. He can answer that question. Thank you, Craig. Speaker 6: So before we came over to council, LGW did a ORI audit. So WorkCover came in and did an audit on council in 2022, I think it was, off the bottom of my head. I think it was. Council scored 71. Great. Each pass is 70. The last time they did the audit, it's only four councillors in Queensland passed. So we did quite well. And the year before, four years back, we passed again with around 71, 72. I'd have to go and look at the numbers, but it's around that point. Last year was a big year with the workers' comp getting trans-overed and all those sort
00:59:00 of things. So no, we haven't done that. We do internal audits all the time? Or we don't do an external? Speaker 4: External audits typically are only done periodically because they are expansive. They come in and they audit all of our documentation. Speaker 2: Very resource intensive. Speaker 4: Right through to, they're very thorough, to on-the-spot site visits, where they will go around and visit all of our sites, ask staff questions. So they're very, very thorough. So typically in the past, they've always been on-the-spot visits. They've been done every three or four years because they can't possibly do every council every year. But we are always appreciative of an audit. You know, we have a very strong workplace health and safety culture at Noosa Council, but there's always room to improve and we always get valuable learnings out of those audits. Councillor Lorentson: Fantastic. So there was significant savings from just switching our insurance providers?
01:00:00 Yeah. Did that savings get reinvested? Are you interested in what you've just said, Kerri? Speaker 2: I can respond to that. We don't, other than user charges, similar to the questioning before around parking fines, that revenue will just come back into consolidated revenue or that savings. It's not like it comes then directly or we take a clip and bring it over to workplace health and safety. We would just go through the normal budget process through the year and if we've identified that we needed a larger expenditure, we would just go through the normal budget process through the year. Obviously, that would be offset then by those savings, but that revenue doesn't come into the line item in people and culture, if that makes sense, if I've already responded. It does. Thank you, Matt. Thank you. I just wanted to ride through the chair again to give you some confidence around auditing as well. So the Office of Justice Attorney in General, which is where workplace health and safety as a department sits under, they will regularly review any, even such as this council
01:01:00 meeting and the report that's tabled with the minutes. They have operatives that regularly scan council meetings and also would look at our annual report and any of the statistics with LGW. If they ever saw anything of concern, then they would, as the regulator, initiate an audit. Now, we've not had that in my understanding of council. So, but just to give you some confidence that there is a regulator will scan their eyes. So there is oversight there and if they have an issue, then they will, and it will be a compliance order. We won't have any opportunity to say we can't participate because we're too busy. That will just be imposed upon us. So that does, yeah, that's there. Great. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I couldn't think of a hard question. I think I'll go straight forward. I think I've identified a typo.
01:02:00 Great. In the table. Speaker 2: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: That had duration van days lost. I'm pretty sure it's most to admit that the final break column should be greater than 52, not less than 52. Thank you, through the chair, for picking that up. Speaker 2: We will. Right. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: But when we look at that table, it's probably the core of what we have to consider as council, is when you compare to 2020, you see significant, 21, 22, significant reduction in total claims. In the last two years, we've had no claims that had a lost day greater than 26 days. And we see even in the eight and the eight to 26 weeks, only one or two this last reporting year. So if any other organisation does a report like that showing that level of change, would they be happy? Sure. I think so, yes. Yeah, perfect. I think that's something to celebrate. Yeah. Speaker 2: Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Wilson. Councillor Wilson: On the converse, though.
01:03:00 Just below that in part five. There were 243 incidents in the 25 years compared with 189 in this year. So there's an increase, quite sharp, in the injury incidents and requiring first aid. Do we have any sort of trends that we're aware of? They will come back to you afterwards. I think that's been it. Are there particular types of injuries that we're aware of? Speaker 2: Through the G. Yeah. But Craig can respond in terms of the first aid. What are the types of? Speaker 6: There might be hands and cuts and things like that. Sprains and cuts. Sprains and cuts. A lot of injuries. We did a big push this year and last year to get people reporting because we weren't getting reports through ELT. They've been helping us to get people to come back. They've been helping us to report things. The injuries were probably there but they weren't being reported before. Where now is we're getting them reported and we're getting them on the front foot so we're
01:04:00 cutting down the injuries also. A lot of new misses have been reported now and we're on top of those before they become an injury. If that makes sense. Speaker 4: Typically in the past we would have people quick and thorough about reporting major injuries or injuries that required medical attention. But minor things, people would just go, it's all right, we'll just keep on going with the flow. And we've encouraged right across the board to say that's the sort of thing that's actually important to report because we can learn from that to make sure that it doesn't turn into a more serious injury. So we've seen an uptake in that reporting. Speaker 2: And through the G. If I can just highlight on that, the increase that you will see in that area under five on near miss reporting. Craig did mention that earlier on in speaking point but I just wanted to highlight that for the community as well. That's a very positive increase.
01:05:00 So that's an increase of 34. And that's as a consequence of the health and safety reps leading toolbox tours so that they highlight the value of reporting near misses. And that's critical in identifying potential hazards before they lead to injury. So it's almost like a converse. It's an increase but it's very positive. And I suppose the other one I wanted to emphasise as well is the reduction in incidences involving property by 11 in relation to council and private vehicles. Yeah. I just thought I'd make that point. And the other one that I just thought I'd point out under workplace health and safety training. So whilst that does not look particularly positive under section seven of the report, where it's saying we've only averaged 64%, which falls below expectations, what happens is with our current status, we've only averaged 64%. So what happens is that we're in a situation where the system, it issues out take five or training requests across the whole organisation. So as an example, it will issue one to say the acting director of corporate that might be related to working at heights or confined space training or silica dust training.
01:06:00 Now that's not related to my role. Yes, I could undertake that training so that I'm aware of what the code of practice is saying, but I probably wouldn't prioritise that. Conversely, there might be some office space training that is distributed to an external staff member that's not relative. So that's how those statistics get a little bit blurred, but we're looking at a potential alternative data capture and reporting system for workplace health and safety moving forward that we hope has got a lot more smarts and analytics in it and that we can provide more clarity in our reporting. I appreciate. Speaker 4: If you were going to look for any area of Sydney for work, what would that look like? It's a significant improvement. It's in our backend workplace health and safety system, which was a good system when we put it in, but it is now well outdated. It makes it difficult for us to really interrogate data.
01:07:00 It produces kind of bulk data, not nuanced data that helps us really identify where the gaps and opportunities are, where the problems might be to that. That would be, I think, our next maturing as a workplace health and safety system. Councillor Lorentson: And I appreciate that because I think when I first read the report, I was a little bit concerned, you know, total incidences rose from 189 to 243, 61 out of 107 inspections were completed. The take five completion rates at only 64%. But when I got context around that, that made me feel really well. Should that we're in a really good space. So any further information or detail and or how we can improve the report, really, really recommend it. Speaker 2: Okay. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. Thank you. Just to follow up on that, does that mean you will be able to send appropriate training
01:08:00 modules to staff that are appropriate? Speaker 2: That's role specific? Yeah, role specific to staff. Mayor Wilkie: That would, through the chair? Speaker 2: Through the chair. Mayor Wilkie: That's what active CEO would do? Yes. Speaker 2: Yes. Yes. That's the aim. Speaker 4: And for example, at the moment, it's very difficult in our system. So if you look at the hazard inspections, it doesn't differentiate between whether that is something very minor, like a paper sign needs to be updated or something major. It just lists them all as things that need to be rectified. But similarly to first aid instances, it doesn't mention whether that's some, it doesn't mention any of those things that need to be rectified. It doesn't categorise it as just somebody needs a band aid put in or somebody had to be taken to hospital. The system just simply doesn't allow us for that kind of detail and that's where we need to go to, to get better rigorous data and better ability to target training and target actions
01:09:00 where they need to go. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Happy to hear it, Mr Chair. Moved by Councillor Wilkie. Happy to second. Seconded by Councillor Monaghan. You've got the floor. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, Mr Chair. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I've been moved and seconded. You can ask questions after his talk. Thanks, Councillor Finzel. Mayor Wilkie: Thank you. We've received Workplace Health and Safety reports before. This, to my memory, is the most detailed and extensive I've ever seen. It has a lot of data in there that I too would appreciate an extra session to unpack, to understand. The training and training that you've got underway or plan to implement to mitigate these risks. So I really appreciate it. There's a lot of things I do not understand that you're doing at an operational level and I would like to because I know it's important work. And Craig, I would thank you for your report.
01:10:00 It is, as I said, the most comprehensive WH&S report I've seen. And you perhaps have the most important report. It's about ensuring that our employers are kept safe and that they go home safely to their families. And I know that everything in this report, from what I've read, is geared towards lowering that lost time to injury rate, which is the most important. Making sure getting as close to zero as possible. But in order to do that, I would appreciate another session because there's a lot of really great programs underway. And I would appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much for the work you're doing. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. Thank you. Now, Councillor Finsville. Councillor Finzel: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the report. I have some questions around psychosocial hazards in the workplace, regarding strategic support and governance moving into the future.
01:11:00 I guess perhaps maybe staff could give us some further information. I know there's comments around health and well-being and issues. There's a lot of support for initiatives and initiatives for the future to address potential hazards. And there's also support for staff to raise work-related or personal concerns. In the report, or moving forward, is there going to be opportunities to address some examples of psychosocial hazards, like high job demands, work overflow, low job control, lack of role clarity, or poor employment? Or organisational justice? How are we planning to address that and report that moving forward? Speaker 2: Through the Chair, Councillor Finsville. I can respond to that. As you'd be aware, and the other Councillors, we have had that wellbeing at work survey, which was, in essence, a high-level risk assessment of the psychosocial hazards contained within
01:12:00 Noosa Council. And the organisation has responded by multiple action plans to address those concerns, such as those themes that you raised, Councillor Finzel, like high job demands, lack of clarity, and organisational justice, just to identify a couple. Those action plans continue to be monitored and reported on through to the executive team. But it's certainly an ongoing piece of work. And I would suggest that between now and December, or at the end of December of this year, which is the commitment I gave to Councillors when I and the other members of the Council were there, and the CEO, Larry, provided an update to the Councillors on that wellbeing at work survey. We did give a commitment that we would come back and provide a further report on that, in terms of the status of the action plans, the effectiveness of those action plans, and further mitigation strategies moving forward.
01:13:00 Speaker 4: Do you have much to also mention? Thank you. Speaker 2: Oh, sorry. Thank you. And the Acting CEO has just mentioned, as well. Thank you. That we also have another wellness initiative called the Thrive at Work program, which I'm sure some of you are aware of, which are fitness activities and other mental health initiatives that people can participate, free and during work time. Councillor Finzel: Thank you. That's great. In terms of reporting, is this something that will become like something embedded in this report moving forward? Is that the plan? Speaker 2: Through this report? I can take that on notice, and I'll have the discussion with Julianne, as the Manager of BNC, around where the appropriate forum is for that reporting, such as that wellbeing at work ongoing reporting, whether we incorporate it into this, or we keep it as a standalone report.
01:14:00 Councillor Finzel: Thank you. That's encouraging. I look forward to the reply to that question. Thank you, and keep up the good work. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Okay. Does anyone else wish to talk to motion, Councillors? Councillor Wilson: Thank you for the report. It's really good to see the ongoing training, the toolbox talks, the encouraging of that culture of reporting. I think that's really important. Reading this report took me back to my days at Caltex, when I was the Head of Management reporting there, and that was such a big topic, a big focus there, and also my work at Pontus as well. So it was really a reminder that that used to be front and centre of pretty much everything that started with a safety topic. And just having that culture embedded into your organisation is so important. And it's probably something that we, as a Council, haven't seen too much on so far. I think we had a presentation to the Awarding Risk Committee last year, but otherwise we kind of don't see these stats too often. So I think it is great to actually highlight that this is so important, and to keep track
01:15:00 of where we're at. But yeah, very good. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: Councillor Lottie. Councillor Lorentson: I'd like to acknowledge and thank the WHS team. Thank you very much. I think my take home when I read the report, and I've been doing this job now five years, is Council is really serious about safety. And you know, I'm a big believer in continuous improvement, and we as Councillors have that opportunity to help support your team, whether it's extra staffing or more finances. So please talk to us. This is really important. You know, happy staff, happy community. It's important that we keep our staff safe and supported. So thank you for your excellent work. Deputy Mayor Stockwell: I'll talk. I think we may have brought him back, but I know previously we had some guest speakers
01:16:00 on workplace health and safety issues, like ex-Bronco. Co-player Shane Webke. If any of our staff are Sharks supporters or Raiders supporters, you might want to make a special effort this week. Because there is certainly psychosocial stress there. On the flip side, I'm sure those who support the Broncos would be happy, as we look at the sale. Would you like to close? No, thank you. I'll put the motion. Those in favour? So moved. Thank you. We'll make that unanimous. Thank you for your report. And that brings us to the end of the agenda meeting. No confidential sessions. Meeting closed at 1.49. Speaker 1: Thank you. Councillor Lorentson: Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you.
9 CONFIDENTIAL SESSION ¶
Council's recording ends before this item. Where a meeting resolved to close its doors, that is what the end of the recording means — see what council discussed in private.
10 MEETING CLOSURE ¶
Council's recording ends before this item. Where a meeting resolved to close its doors, that is what the end of the recording means — see what council discussed in private.