News Alert |

Ballarat City Council has outlined the details of all international travel of both councillors and council officers in 2018 to ensure transparency around overseas travel.

Throughout 2018, international travel has helped develop innovations in world library practice, promoted the 13-council bid for the Victorian Goldfields UNESCO World Heritage listing, provided technical information into Ballarat’s proposed Waste to Energy facility, presented the City of Ballarat’s Intercultural Strategy on the world stage, helped with Ballarat’s bid for Smart Cities funding and gained insight into some of New Zealand’s parking practices.

Overseas travel is essential to represent Ballarat on the global stage and to help develop and implement Council policy.

The trips included:

* Who: City of Ballarat Learning Services Librarian Anna Parsons to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Benefits: Learnt about developing digital libraries, undertaking innovative programs and activities, reviewing library education curricula and embarking on community projects to ensure libraries remain relevant against the competing roles of Internet and other social media.

Cost: Ms Parsons was on a $4200 scholarship fully funded by Public Libraries Victoria

* Who: Mayor Cr Samantha McIntosh, Art Gallery of Ballarat Director Louise Tegart and City of Ballarat Economic Development Executive Manager James Guy visited France, United Kingdom and Turkey

Benefits: Support for Ballarat to be a partner in France’s 2021 Year of Australia celebrations, discussions about a partnership exhibition with the Musee de la Chartreuse de Douai and the Art Gallery of Ballarat, a visit to the Catacombs informed Ballarat’s current partnership with Visit Ballarat to expand local underground experiences, established crucial connections for the 13-council Victorian Goldfields UNESCO World Heritage listing, detailed technical site visits to Waste to Energy plants and significant focus on Ballarat in the World League of Historical Cities conference.

Cost: $26,657 – Cr McIntosh (full trip) $12,109, Ms Tegart (part trip) $8575 and Mr Guy (part trip) $5972

* Who: City of Ballarat Learning and Community Hubs Executive Manager Jenny Fink to Rijeka, Croatia for the Intercultural Cities Conference

Benefits: Presented the City of Ballarat Intercultural Strategy 2018-2022, observed new practices for Diversity Charters for Cultural Cities, groundwork completed on the Australia/Pacific region intercultural network

Cost: $3532 with $600 accommodation costs partly covered by the Council of Europe

* Who: City of Ballarat Transformational Lead Justine Resta to Rotorua, New Zealand for the Association of Local Government Information Management New Zealand Conference as a representative of the Municipal Association of Victoria Technology Committee, of which she is an executive committee member

Benefits: Exploring best practice digital transformation, customer experience and information management practices

Cost: $773.43, flights only. Accommodation costs met by officer and conference costs by organisers

* Who: City of Ballarat Development and Planning Director Angelique Lush and Operations and Environment Executive Manager Steve Van Orsouw to Denmark and Germany to investigate Waste to Energy projects.

Benefits: Meeting with Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad who are undertaking a due diligence study for a business case for a Waste to Energy facility in Ballarat, tour of the Amager Bakke Waste to Energy Plant in 

Copenhagen which uses the technology proposed for the Ballart plant, and meetings with Alstom officials in Germany to discuss hydrogen innovation related to rail.

Cost: $14,000

* Who: Mayor Cr Samantha McIntosh and City of Ballarat Coordinator Heritage and Cultural Landscapes Susan Fayed to the third Regional Conference of the Organisation of World Heritage Cities Asia-Pacific in Suzhou, China

Benefits: Boosted the Victorian Goldfields UNESCO World Heritage listing bid, being asked to submit an expression of interest for hosting a special event in Ballarat as part of the International ICOMOS General Assembly being held in Sydney in 2020, offers of assistance for Ballarat’s Heritage Urban Landscape (HUL) work.

Cost: Airfares, accommodation and conference costs were covered by event organisers. Ancillary costs for visas etc $1189.

* Who: Cr Ben Taylor, City of Ballarat CEO Justine Linley, Executive Manager Regulatory Services Amy Boyd and Project Officer Brendan Spratling to New Zealand to gain insights into Auckland’s parking strategy and Waste to Energy facilities.

Benefits: Provided an understanding of Transport Auckland’s flexible parking technology and Auckland’s Waste to Energy facility.

Cost: $4427 (Cr Taylor $1070, Ms Linley $438 (paid own airfare), Ms Boyd $1103, Mr Spratling $1297, food and internal transfers $517.

Council will also vote at its December 12 meeting on amending the Councillor Expenses and Entitlements Policy to require any Councillor seeking approval for interstate or international travel to provide a detailed draft itinerary and briefing to councillors beforehand, which is current practise.