Funding boost to foster gender equity in local government

Local Government Professionals Australia, the peak body for local government officers, will receive a share of $39.8 million in federal funding to support women’s leadership development in local government. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women will invest $615,000 over three years to increase female leadership in the local government sector.

Local Government Professionals Australia National President Victoria MacKirdy said this funding is a vote of confidence by the Minister for Women and a commitment by the Australian Government to support local government and women in the sector.

“Local Government Professionals Australia is proud to be partnering with the Office for Women on our Local Government Women’s Future Leader Program. Since we set a gender balance target of 40:40:20 in local government senior leadership teams to be reached by 2025 last year — that is 40% men, 40% women and 20% unspecified — we have been actively working to make this a reality,” said MacKirdy.

The funded program seeks to increase female leadership in local government through tailored support for women and councils. The program will offer leadership development opportunities to women while providing support for councils to achieve the leadership gender balance target, including through mentoring, scholarships, board traineeships, and virtual and face-to-face professional development event attendance.

The program will also support councils through reports, case studies and toolkit resources to ensure local governments can encourage and foster female leaders within their workforces.

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