Northgate Ward

Many people don't know what a Councillor does with their time.

Councillors are full-time representatives of a Ward, which is roughly the size of a State electorate in Queensland.

They have to represent residents and/or ratepayers in their dealings with the Council. They also have to attend full Council meetings and various Council Committees, as well as represent the Council on a number of public Committees and Boards.

As well as being a politician/legislator and ombudsman, they are working directors and assistance managers of a huge enterprise, having a budget similar to the largest enterprises in Australia.

Ward Councillors are not able to direct Council Officers. The Lord Mayor is the only Councillor that is able to give direct instructions to staff.

The Council has to operate not for profit, but for public well-being; and the test of this comes every four years at election time.

Councillors are obliged to sit on various Standing Committees such as Finance and Administration, Customer and Family Services, Urban Planning and Development Assessment, Infrastructure, Active and Public Transport and Water and City Businesses. Each committee reports weekly to full Council meetings. These Committees oversee the various departments including - Corporate Services, Local Asset Services, Queensland Urban Utilities, Urban Amenity, Brisbane Transport, Regulatory Services.

Both the Administration (Majority Party) and the Opposition Councillors sit on these Committees, so that an Opposition member's position is no less onerous in this regard. This is a different situation from that of State Parliament.

As well as these Standing Committees, Chairpersons also sit on the policy making Establishment and Co-ordination Committee.

Councillors have to continually inspect their Wards to ensure forward planning takes place to enable them to make suggestions for the annual budget schedules.

The Council is not purely a legislative body, but an operational one which requires continuous attention on a full-time basis from the elected representative. The Councillors must take an active interest particularly in the field of the Committees to which they are appointed. They have to make decisions or recommendations affecting the lives and wellbeing of all the citizens. They, therefore, have to be informed on the day to day activities of a particular Department or Division, to enable them to make quality decisions.

They also have to be informed enough to carry out the duty of representing, personally, their constituents in their dealings with the Council, because action taken to assist one person or body, may also affect others.

In many cases, they have to sort out, or step warily around private disputes between individuals. There is usually right on both sides.

After a busy day in City Hall, considering the major problems of the City at large, it is usual to come back to their suburban office to attend to a resident's complaint against a neighbour and the problems of a blocked drain and uncollected refuse.

The normal local week-night meetings or weekend sporting events or school fetes, usually brings forth a list of problems. And this is as it should be: ‘Grass Roots’ Government keeping in touch with people's problems and opinions.

Councillors in Brisbane receive a full-time salary to enable them to devote their whole attention to the job.

They do not receive a defined benefit parliamentary superannuation as do Parliamentarians. They are also not entitled to receive remuneration for jobs done personally for residents, nor are they permitted to vote on any matter in which they have a pecuniary interest.

It is a lawful requirement under the Local Government Act that Councillors upon taking up office must make a declaration regarding fulfilment of their duties of office and provide relevant information to enable a "Register of Interest" to be maintained by the Council's Chief Executive Officer on the full interests of the Councillor and "related persons".