Council’s 2022/23 Annual Report highlights successes from a challenging year

Gladstone Regional Council’s 2022/23 Annual Report has been formally adopted after being tabled at Tuesday’s (21 November) General Council Meeting.

A legislative requirement under the Local Government Act 2009, the Annual Report informs the community on our performance over the past year against the deliverables outlined in our 2021- 2026 Corporate Plan and 2022/23 Operational Plan and Budget.

It also features stories and highlights on Council’s core service delivery to our community.

Gladstone Regional Council CEO Leisa Dowling said she was proud to declare that Council had successfully delivered on all eight Operational Plan initiatives during 2022/23.

“The 2022/23 financial year presented Council with multiple challenges that were exacerbated by high inflation and supply chain disruptions,” Ms Dowling said.

“Our teams responded by adapting procurement processes to minimise these impacts.”

Ms Dowling said she was also heartened by a positive shift in employee culture.

“It is pleasing to see improvements across all culture measures through a continued focus on our people and the building of a constructive culture at Council,” she said.

“We have also seen a reduction in our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate, while in May 2023 we launched a business wide survey to identify the factors contributing to psychosocial hazards and risks at our workplaces.

“Results indicated that we have a low psychosocial stress workplace and one of our many focuses in the coming year will be to maintain and improve on this.

“While our Council manages nearly $3 billion in assets, our most important asset is our people who not only deliver for our organisation, but for the entire Gladstone Region.”

Gladstone Region Mayor Matt Burnett said he had several highlights within the 2022/23 Annual Report.

“One of the most exciting aspects of the past year was the launch of the Gladstone Region Economic Transition Roadmap in November 2022,” Councillor Burnett said.

“This is exciting because it sets out what is required in the next 10 years to successfully adapt to a rapidly changing energy sector and support a positive economic transition for our community.”

Cr Burnett was also encouraged by progress made in terms of understanding the future waste needs of our Region.

“The Gladstone Region Waste Plan was finalised in June 2023 and was developed to understand and meet the needs of our community and deliver the best value waste management service into the future,” Cr Burnett said.

“Conversations about waste are ones that we need to have, and I look forward to seeing further developments within this space during 2023/24.”

Cr Burnett’s highlights from the 2022/23 Annual Report also focussed on community development and community events.

“We continued to progress our vision by exploring opportunities for affordable housing solutions at Philip Street Communities and Families Precinct, made significant progress regarding the Boyne Tannum Aquatic Recreation Centre and raised more than $123,000 for three local beneficiaries at the 2023 Mayor’s Charity Ball,” he said.

“Some of our most popular events attracted tens of thousands of people, including Luminous and Easter in Gladstone, while we also saw fantastic attendance figures at Grease the Musical and Ecofest.

“Overall, we made some strong steps forward during 2022/23 and on behalf of myself and my fellow Councillors I want to thank all Council employees for their ongoing hard work and dedication towards the Gladstone Region.”

Visit www.gladstone.qld.gov.au/plans-reports to read Gladstone Regional Council’s 2022/23 Annual Report.

Full financial statements including the Community Financial Report can be found in the document.