CAQA Shire of Brightwater
The Shire of Brightwater is a rural and regional council in north-eastern Victoria serving around 24,000 residents across six townships and a large farming hinterland. The council delivers the full range of local government services: rates and property administration, statutory and strategic planning, building approvals, roads, drainage, footpaths and bridges, waste and recycling, animal management, parking and local law enforcement, libraries, maternal and child health, and community development. Nine elected councillors set the strategic direction and the Chief Executive Officer leads the administration that delivers it.
The administration is organised into six directorates and departments that report to the Chief Executive Officer. Customer-facing staff work from the shire offices in Brightwater and the customer service centre at Marlow Flat between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm on weekdays. The works depot at Kellerton runs a day shift from 7:00 am with an on-call roster for after-hours road, tree and drainage emergencies. The transfer station opens four days a week. Council meets on the third Tuesday of each month and the meeting is streamed live.
The shire operates under the Local Government Act 2020 and reports to the Minister for Local Government, the Victorian Auditor-General and the Local Government Inspectorate. Quality and compliance are managed through a governance framework built on delegations, a controlled-document library, an audit and risk committee, and an annual internal audit program. Work health and safety is managed under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 with a hazard and incident register reviewed monthly, and personal information is handled under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014.