Specialist advisory committees will inform and influence future Council decision making following the adoption of Council's first Advisory Committee Policy and the appointment of Councillor representatives this week.
While the Local Government Act 2020 does not reference Advisory Committees, Council has a long history of engaging community members through specialist committees and has opted to strengthen their function and improve transparency through formal annual reporting to Council and publicly available minutes.
Standard Terms of Reference have also been adopted, ensuring consistent governance across the board.
Each Advisory Committee will have a minimum of five members, with at least two Councillor representatives and three to eight community members, selected based on their skills, equity, and diversity.
Committees formed for this Council term, and their councillor representatives include:
Arts and Culture Advisory Committee
Cr Annemarie McCabe, Cr Michael Leaney
Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee
Cr Jazmin Tauru, Cr Tricia Jones
Early Years Advisory Committee
Cr Joe Gauci, Cr Danny Goss
Environmental Voice Advisory Committee
Cr Peter Kostos, Cr Tricia Jones
Healthy in Baw Baw Advisory Committee
Cr Ben Lucas, Cr Jazmin Tauru
Place Names Advisory Committee
Cr Peter Kostos, Cr Jazmin Tauru
Roads Infrastructure Advisory Committee
Cr Darren Wallace, Cr Michael Leaney, Cr Peter Kostos
Committees will be reviewed within six months of each Council election and external community members will be eligible for recurring terms.
Quotes attributable to Mayor Cr Danny Goss:
"Advisory committees have an incredibly important function in advising Council and steering decisions to ensure we achieve the best outcomes for our community. The advice we receive as Councillors is invaluable.
"It's great to see these committees back up and running with improved transparency, standardised governance, and a genuine commitment to engage skilled and diverse community representatives."
