Circulars

What’s new or changing?

• To assist councils in the delivery of councillor induction and refresher training, the Office of Local Government (OLG) will be holding a series of “Hit the Ground Running” webinars beginning in October 2024 and continuing into early 2025.
• These webinars will provide councillors with essential information to serve their community and fulfil their civic responsibilities.
• “Hit the Ground Running” webinars will be held online once a week on Thursdays from 4.00 – 6.00 pm. The webinar on the Governing Body and Financial Management will start at 4.30 pm.
• Recordings of the webinars will be made available on OLG’s website.
• Session details, dates and how to register are provided on the “Hit the Ground Running” webpage in the Council Portal.

What will this mean for council?

• Under the Local Government (General) Regulation 2021 (the Regulation), councils must ensure that induction training is delivered to councillors who have been elected for the first time and refresher training for councillors who are re-elected, within 6 months of their election. Councils are also required to provide supplementary training to mayors.
• Councils are encouraged to incorporate the webinars into the councillor induction and refresher program they are required to deliver to elected members after the September 2024 council elections.
• General managers and council staff should widely promote the webinars and strongly encourage attendance by providing relevant session dates in the council calendar and assisting councillors with their registration.

Key points

• The “Hit the Ground Running” webinars will focus on the key elements of a councillor’s role and responsibilities.
• All councillors are strongly encouraged to participate in the “Hit the Ground Running” webinars. They will provide essential information to support councillors in serving their community and fulfilling their responsibilities.
• Councillors will receive a certificate of attendance to provide to their councils for each of the webinars they attend to assist councils to comply with their reporting obligations under the Regulation in relation to councillor participation in training.

Where to go for further information

• Session details, dates and how to register are provided on the “Hit the Ground Running” webpage on the Council Portal.
• To register for the Council Portal, go to Council Portal Registration on OLG’s website. Please note that registration must be based upon a government email address (i.e. …@_.nsw.gov.au).
• For more information on inducting new and returning councillors, see OLG’s Councillor Induction and Professional Development Guidelines on its website.
• To access the 2024 Councillor Handbook, visit the ‘Key Resources’ section on OLG’s Being a councillor webpage.
• For further information, contact OLG’s Council Governance Team on (02) 4428 4100 or by email at olg@olg.nsw.gov.au.

Brett Whitworth
Deputy Secretary, Office of Local Government