New committees structure for council from August

30 July 2020

Ipswich City Council is reverting to a full committee structure from August.

Council has decided to extend the number of standing committees, with the current all-encompassing General Purposes Committee to be replaced by five new committees.

Mayor Teresa Harding said councillors had been involved in a workshop process to come up with the right committees structure.

“We have an exceptional cross section of the Ipswich community on our new council, covering every age demographic from 20s through to 70s,” she said.

“We have councillors who are passionate about their city and keen to lead from the front. I am confident our new committee structure will bring out the best of them as individuals and collectively as a team. I look forward to the first committee meetings next month.”

The existing Ipswich Central Redevelopment Committee, chaired by Deputy Mayor Marnie Doyle, will remain in place.

The five new committees will be similar to those established when council was under administration from August 2018 to March 2020.

The new committees structure will be as follows:

1. Growth, Infrastructure and Waste

2. Governance and Transparency

3. Community, Culture, Arts and Sport

4. Economic and Industry Development

5. Environment and Sustainability

6. Ipswich Central Redevelopment Committee

The Growth, Infrastructure and Waste Committee, to be chaired by Mayor Harding, will feature all councillors and first sit on Tuesday 13 August.

The other committees will sit one after the other on Tuesday 20 August, and the full council meeting on Tuesday 27 August.

Sitting dates will follow this same pattern in following months.

Mayor Harding said apart from the Growth, Infrastructure and Waste Committee, all the other committees would be made up of between 4-6 councillors, including a chair and deputy chair.

New councillors Nicole Jonic, Andrew Fechner, Jacob Madsen and Russell Milligan were selected as committee chairs.

Division 2’s Cr Jonic,  a small business owner, will head the Economic and Industry Development Committee. She was also appointed deputy chair of the Ipswich Central Redevelopment Committee.

Division 3’s Cr Fechner will chair Community, Culture, Arts and Sport; Division 1’s Cr Madsen will chair Governance and Transparency; and Division 4’s Cr Milligan will chair Environment and Sustainability.

Long serving councillor Paul Tully was appointed as deputy chair of the Growth, Infrastructure and Waste Committee.

All appointments were voted on unanimously by councillors.

For a full schedule of committee and council meetings for 2020. Read here