2022-07-12 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                     12 JULY 2022


3      GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

Author                Governance Manager, Diana Stewart
                      Executive Services Department

Index                 ECM/ Subject 27.49 Corporate Governance

Attachments           1.   Governance Framework
                           (50-page attachment provided separately to this agenda)


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Good governance is necessary in local government to ensure accountability, consistency and
transparency, and to support compliance with legislative and ethical obligations. Essentially,
good governance supports Council to make decisions and to act in the best interests of the
community.

Within this context, a key focus area in Council’s Corporate Plan 2017-2037 is to strengthen
our Governance Framework.1 In response, a new Governance Framework (the Framework)
has been developed to provide our community and Council with a strategic overview of our
current governance practices, our commitment to upholding integrity and to reinforce
participation in good governance.

Furthermore, the Framework has been independently reviewed by external consultants who
support the adoption of this Framework to deliver best practice in this area.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Governance Manager to the Services & Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 12 July 2022 and:
A.       Adopt the Governance Framework.
B.       Authorise the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), if required, to make any minor
         amendments to the document prior to publication.


REPORT
1.     Good governance
Governance is the process by which:
•    decisions are made and implemented,
•    an organisation achieves its goals and produces its outputs, and,
•    the way organisations are directed, controlled and held to account.
Governance encompasses the system by which an organisation is controlled and operates,
and the mechanisms by which it, and its people, are held to account. Ethics, risk
management, compliance, accountability and administration are all elements of governance.2

Good governance is necessary in local government to ensure accountability, consistency and
transparency, and to support compliance with legislative and ethical obligations. Essentially,



1 Corporate Plan 2017-2037, Theme 5, Key focus area 12, p. 14.
2 Governance Institute of Australia.


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