The Minister for Regional Australia, Local Government and Territories has launched a new strategy aimed making local government a more attractive, flexible and rewarding sector to work in.

The Minister claims the new National Local Government Workforce Strategy 2013–2020 will help the sector on recruitment and retention, which she says will ultimately lead to better service delivery for local communities.

“Local governments are local employers with national reach. This gives them an appealing place in the employment market and allows them to use this unique profile to attract and retain a diverse workforce,” said Local Government Minister Catherine King, “the strategy will build on and reinforce existing good practices in workforce planning and development, and facilitate improvements throughout the sector.”

The newly-released strategy is the result of extensive consultations with state local government associations, the Australian Services Union, major industry skills councils and Australian Government departments.

The Future-Proofing Local Government: National Workforce Strategy 2013–2020 was prepared by the Local Government Managers Australia on behalf of the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) and is available here.