General manager recruitment and Performance Monitoring

Appointing a general manager is one of the most important functions of the elected members in every council.

To support community confidence in the processes and management of professional appointments within local councils, the Tasmanian Government has been focusing on the development of a stronger framework for the recruitment and performance monitoring of general managers within local government.

The Minister for Local Government has issued a Ministerial Order that applies to the recruitment and performance assessment of general managers of Tasmanian councils.

The Ministerial Order complements the reforms achieved through the Local Government (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act 2023, which reintroduced a legislated requirement that councils appoint staff based upon a merit assessment, and required councils to seek applications for general manager vacancies in most instances.

The Order introduces:

robust requirements in respect of 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.

In collaboration with the Local Government Association of Tasmania, the Office of Local Government has developed the following information sheets, providing details of how the order must be followed, to ensure good practice across the local government sector. Further Guidance materials supporting the sector with these processes are also in development.

The order can be viewed here.

Consultation

In early 2023, the Tasmanian Government released a discussion paper on ‘Merit-based recruitment in councils’, which can be accessed here . Community and stakeholder feedback received was supportive of the reform’s principles.

In accordance with the Tasmanian Government’s Public Submission Policy, in the absence of clear information that a submission is to be treated as confidential, submissions are considered public information.

Submissions received are published below.

Break O'Day Council Submission - Merit-based Recruitment

City of Launceston Submission - Merit-based Recruitment

Devonport City Council Submission - Merit-based Recruitment

Huon Valley Council Submission - Merit-based Recruitment

Integrity Commission Submission

Jenny Cambers-Smith Submission

Kentish Council Submission

Kingborough Ratepayers Associate - Merit-based recruitment response - Redacted

Latrobe Council Email - Redacted

Latrobe Council Submission

Local Government Professionals Submission - Merit-based Recruitment - Redacted