In other news:

• New CEO for Logan City Council
• First female MD for Melbourne Water
• Acting commissioner officially takes up role

Darriea Turley has been elected President of Local Government NSW, after a postal vote by members.

The Mayor of Broken Hill City Council will head up eight other returning members to the LGNSW Board, along with nine who replaced outgoing members of the former board.

“Councils have been working hard to help drive a locally led recovery from the economic impacts of drought, bushfires, floods and the COVID pandemic,” she said in a statement.

“It is one of my key priorities as LGNSW President and I’ll be working with partners including the Country Mayors Association of NSW, our Joint Organisation Chairs Forum and the City Regional Organisation of Councils.”

Her other priorities include developing a new Intergovernmental Agreement with the State Government, collaborating with Australian Local Government Association and addressing the Financial Assistance Grants shortfall, and establishing an annual rural and regional summit.

The Australian Electoral Commission also declared the election of Jerome Laxale as treasurer, Khal Asfour as Metropolitan and Urban Vice-President and Scott Ferguson as Rural and Regional Vice-President.

The new LGNSW Board will meet for the first time in early 2022.

New Qld health ombudsman

The Queensland Government has appointed Dr Lynne Coulson Barr as health ombudsman.

Dr Coulson Barr will join from Victoria, where she worked as the inaugural Mental Health Complaints Commissioner.

She previously held statutory complaint leadership roles and has extensive experience in the disability, mental health and health sectors.

Dr Coulson Barr will be taking over from Andrew Brown, who has been serving Queensland as Health Ombudsman since November 2017.

Mr Brown will finish up in January and will move onto leading the review into patient safety issues in the cosmetic sector.

Acting commissioner to take up role officially

Acting Commissioner Kevin Corcoran to take up role of Commissioner for Corrective Services NSW.

Mr Corcoran had been acting in the role since August, after the retirement of Peter Severin, who had worked in corrections for four decades.

Beginning his career in corrections in 1984 as a trainee superintendent in South Australia, Mr Corcoran soon climbed the ranks and was transferred to Queensland a decade later as Director of Custodial Corrections for the Queensland Corrective Services Commission.

Minister for Counter Terrorism and Corrections Anthony Roberts said Mr Corcoran had done an excellent job in his role acting as commissioner. 

“He has led NSW Corrections through one of the most challenging times in our history, managing the COVID-19 outbreak across the NSW correctional system.”

New CEO for Logan City Council

Two years after its entire council was sacked, Logan City Council has appointed Darren Scott as its new CEO.

Former CEO Sharon Kelsey was sacked by Council in 2018, which she believed was a result of her whistleblowing to the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission.

The CCC charged eight councillors, including former mayor Luke Smith, with fraud.

The fall-out led to multiple court cases, with the CCC dropping fraud charges against the eight councillors earlier this year.

City of Logan Mayor Darren Power said the process to appoint a permanent CEO was one of the most important decisions the Council team would make.

“My Councillor team and I wanted to make sure we took the time to ensure the process was done right,” he said in a statement.

Mr Scott has a strong background in local government and held the role of Director of Economic Development and Major Projects at the Gold Coast City Council for 11 years.

More recently, he was the Deputy Director-General for the Queensland Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy and prior to that was Assistant Under Treasurer for Queensland Treasury.

Mr Scott will start in his role in January, taking over from Acting CEO Silvio Trinca.

Victorian Government improving accessibility across transport network

Tricia Malowney will take up the new role of Chief Accessibility Advocate and will help improve accessibility across the Victorian transport network.

Ms Malowney has been a member on numerous boards, including the Disability Leadership Institute, NDIS Independent Advisory Council and Fire Rescue Victoria Strategic Advisory Committee

Liz Ellis has also been appointed to the role of chair of the Accessible Transport Advisory Committee, with two new committee members, Melissa Hale and Martin Stewart and the reappointment of Mark Tomkins.

The Committee provides strategic advice to the government and supports the delivery of the Accessible Public Transport in Victoria Action Plan 2020-2024.

“Accessible transport is essential to the social and economic inclusion of people with disabilities whether we live in the city or in the outer suburbs or in rural communities,” Ms Malowney said in a statement.

New Director-General of Queensland’s Dept of Education

Michael De’Ath will take up the role of Director-General of Queensland’s Department of Education.

He has over 20 years of experience in public sector leadership and was previously the Deputy Secretary in Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services.

Last year, Mr De’Ath announced his desire to leave his role as ACT Health Directorate director-general in a shock resignation.

First female MD for Melbourne Water

In its 130-year history, Melbourne Water has not had a female managing director, however, it has now appointed Dr Nerina Di Lorenzo to the role.

Dr Lorenzo, who has already started in her role, has over 21 years of experience in senior leadership roles.

Most recently, she was the Executive General Manager of Service delivery at Melbourne Water, and prior to that the CEO of Moreland City Council.

Dr Di Lorenzo takes over from Michael Wandmaker.

Brendan Webb to become first CEO of Ports Victoria

The Victorian Government has appointed Brendan Webb to take up the inaugural role of CEO of its state-wide commercial ports body.

His role will involve overseeing the recently merged Ports Victoria, which will bring together the former Victorian Ports Corporation (Melbourne) and Victorian Regional Channels Authority into one organisation.

Ports Victoria began operating on July 1 and is based in Geelong.

Mr Webb has more than two decades of experience in operational leadership roles across transport, logistics, engineering, and mining.