New committee chairs prepare for inaugural meetings

19 August 2020

The new Ipswich City Council committee structure kicks off tomorrow (Thursday 20 August) with five meetings being held back-to-back.

And the public will be able to attend, subject to ongoing social distancing measures under Queensland Health COVID-19 restrictions.

Councillor Jacob Madsen will begin proceedings as chair of the Governance and Transparency Committee at 9am.

This will be an important committee following the launch of council’s online Transparency and Integrity Hub, which provides Ipswich residents and other levels of government, unprecedented access to the city’s finances.

“Never before in Australia has a local council opened up its books to the community to the extent we have with the Transparency and Integrity Hub, allowing ratepayers the greatest scrutiny over how their money is spent,” Mayor Teresa Harding said when the hub launched last month.

“This is just the beginning of this Council’s transparency journey and plan to continue to release more data insights about how we deliver services to the community and how we’re tracking against our budget.”

The other committees will follow 10 minutes after the conclusion of the previous meeting.

Governance and Transparency: Cr Jacob Madsen (Chair), Cr Russell Milligan (Deputy Chair), Mayor Teresa Harding, Deputy Mayor Marnie Doyle, Cr Nicole Jonic, Cr Kate Kunzelmann.

Community, Culture, Arts and Sport: Cr Andrew Fechner (Chair), Cr Kunzelmann (Deputy Chair), Mayor Harding, Cr Jonic.

Economic and Industry Development: Cr Jonic (Chair), Cr Madsen (Deputy Chair), Mayor Harding, Cr Fechner, Cr Kunzelmann.

Environment and Sustainability: Cr Milligan (Chair), Cr Fechner (Deputy Chair), Mayor Harding, Cr Madsen.

Ipswich Central Redevelopment Committee: Cr Doyle (Chair), Cr Jonic (Deputy Chair), Mayor Harding, Cr Kunzelmann, Cr Milligan.

The Growth, Waste and Infrastructure Committee, which is chaired by Mayor Harding and features all councillors, sits on a Thursday the week before the other committees.

Full council will sit on a Thursday a week after the other committees.

The next sitting dates are 10 September, 17 September and 24 September; 8 October, 15 October and 22 October; 12 November, 19 November and 26 November.

Members of the public can attend the meetings, but they must book via council’s online booking system because of the COVID-19 restrictions.

All committee and council meetings are live-streamed.