Nominate as an advisory body member

Would you like to contribute your expertise, skills and knowledge to support Derwent Valley Council's strategic and policy work?

Council is calling for individuals to nominate for a position on one of six new advisory bodies that will provide subject specific knowledge and advice to help identify and respond to emerging issues and opportunities relevant to the Derwent Valley.

Council advisory bodies will focus on the following subject areas:

  • Economic Development & Tourism
  • Planning & Infrastructure
  • Sport & Recreation
  • Arts, Culture & Heritage
  • Health, Wellbeing & Belonging
  • Environment & Sustainability

Advisory bodies provide Council with strategic advice and insights relevant to the subject area. This includes advice on options being considered for Council's strategic plan, strategy and policy work, and other matters related to the portfolio as referred to it by Council.

Advisory bodies will play a crucial role in helping to guide our work by helping us to identify and respond to emerging issues and opportunities.

Advisory bodies have no delegated authority to approve actions or make decisions on Council's behalf. Their function is help inform Council decision making.

Each advisory body is made up of three to five individuals with relevant experience, knowledge and skills in the relevant subject area. They will collaborate with each other, an assigned portfolio councillor (elected member), and council staff.

Advisory bodies will meet formally up to four times a year (a combination of face-to face and online meetings), and will collaborate throughout the year via email and online tools.

Advisory body members are appointed for a four year term, or until the next local government election.

Anyone can nominate to join an advisory body.

Advisory body members are appointed through an Expression Of Interest process which is advertised when vacancies exist. Applications are assessed against set criteria.

Council values diversity within the makeup of its advisory bodies as this leads to more well-rounded advice.

An advisory body member can only sit on one of Council's advisory bodies.

Advisory body members are 'subject matter experts' either through qualifications and professional experience or through lived (real-world) experience which is equally valued.

The selection process will also consider demographic diversity including gender, age and location.

Advisory bodies are one of several ways that Council seeks advice and input from the community.

Advisory bodies provide strategic, subject-specific advice to council but are not intended to represent all views of the community.

Advisory bodies therefore compliment other forms of community engagement that Council undertakes including face-to-face meetings and discussions, stakeholder workshops, project working groups, community forums, surveys, community panel engagment and digital engagement methods via the Your Say Derwent Valley website.

Members are selected by the Council based on the following broad criteria:

i) Demonstrating understanding of portfolio subject area and opportunities relevant to the Derwent Valley.

ii) Professional or lived experience or skills relevant to the portfolio subject area.

iii) Demonstrating an ability to provide advice to the Council which is strategic, not politically biased, and considers a whole-of-Derwent-Valley approach.

iv) Demonstrating ability to work constructively and collaboratively as part of a team.

v) Demonstrating understanding of the role, function and services provided by Local Government and Tasmanian and Commonwealth Government.

vi) Demonstrating skills and experience in formal meeting procedures, or involvement in committees or similar.

vii) Complimentary skillset and experience to other members of the advisory body.

The optimal composition of the advisory body will include diversity of complementary skills, expertise, networks, lived experience, cultural, social, identity and other diversity markers that can help bring new insights and perspectives leading to more informed decision making.

Advisory body members are appointed as individuals, not as formal representatives of their community, community organisation, business interest, or industry group.

How to Participate

If you are interested in becoming a member of one of the advisory bodies you will need to complete the application form linked from this page.

Before applying it is recommended that you read the relevant terms of reference available in the 'document library' on this page to familiarise yourself with how the advisory body functions and the membership selection criteria.

Information webinar

Council will be holding an information webinar on Wednesday 7 September at 6pm as an opportunity for interested individuals to find out more and ask any questions. If you would like to attend this please RSVP here and we will email you a link.

Alternatively, the Executive Manager Corporate will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the advisory bodies and the nomination process.

The Executive Manager Corporate can be contacted by calling 03 6261 8500 or by email qhorning@dvc.tas.gov.au

Nominations close at 5pm on Sunday 9 October 2022.

Next Steps

Nominations will be reviewed against the criteria outlined in the 'How will advisory body members be selected?' section of this page. A recommendation on the final makeup of each advisory body will be put to Council for endorsement in November 2022.

Successful nominees will be advised of the outcome by Council in late November, and sent an invite to a compulsory induction workshop to be held in December.

Key Dates

Monday 29 August 2022

Expressions of Interest applications open

Sunday 9 October 2022

Expressions of interest close

We have had a huge response to our expression of interest process and a number of people have asked for an extension of time to get their applications in, so in the interest of ensuring we have the best possible candidates to choose from we are extending the application window until 9 October 2022.