While waiting for the official Barkly Regional Council (BRC) Patta Ward By-Election results, candidate Elliot McAdam was busy emailing and commenting on social media about BRC’s staff employment status.
In a social media post this week, Mr McAdam claimed BRC was suffering from 111 positions vacant.
BRC responded with a delve into the facts, and issued a press release to media outlets, which so far has not been reported on.
The Tennant Times was reluctant to as well, since Yours Truly – Editor Tash Adams – works at the Council as the Media and Communications Officer, but a decision was made, that the Tennant Times does cover good news and this deserves the light of day.
And what better news than the Council is on its way to recovery to better service the region?
In BRC’s media release on Wednesday, it was on a positive note about adopting a hire local policy which had reaped great results for its eight community service centres in the Barkly:
Mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin said there was understandably challenges to fill vacancies in remote communities, however BRC’s recruitment team has adopted a hire local policy,” he said.
Across Ali Curung, Alpurrurulam, Ampilatwatja, Arlparra, Elliott, Wutungurra, Imangara and Mungkarta, there are 28 remaining positions to fill.
“The focus has been on local employment for local residents, with positions being advertised in each community on noticeboards and via word of mouth,” he said.
“One real success story is the example of the Elliott recruitment drive, where the management and leadership team is majority Aboriginal.”
Mayor McLaughlin said Council has also adopted new procurement measures which cuts red tape for local decision-making to further empower remote communities and Local Authorities.
“And since early March, we have been working on our transient workforce and now our Council employees can work at multiple communities.
“This means if staff need to travel to another community for Sorry Business or other family commitments, they can work at that community during our stay.”
“Within Tennant Creek, BRC faces the same workforce shortage challenges as other government and non-government organisations and businesses to attract talent to the region, however has made headway to attract local employees to fill key roles.
Barkly Regional Council is the second biggest government area in the country encompassing an area larger than the state of Victoria with communities to service scattered throughout the 322,713 square kilometres.
If you are interested in a career in local government, check out the BRC careers page at https://www.barkly.nt.gov.au/careers/current-vacancies”
This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 12 May 2023.
