New role of state significance for Wagga Wagga’s Mayor

Published: 05 Dec 2023 5:06pm

For the first time since 2018, Wagga Wagga has a councillor on the Local Government NSW Board, with the Mayor of the City of Wagga Wagga elected as one of its members at the recent 2023 LGNSW Annual Conference.

Councillor Dallas Tout was elected as one of the seven Rural/Regional directors on the LGNSW board, with the other seven non-office bearers from metropolitan based councils.

The role of LGNSW is to support and represent communities, advocating on behalf of member councils to both the state and federal governments.

Cr Tout is looking forward to working in relation to local government across the state and, in particular, with councillors and mayors in our region.

“Prior to the election at the recent conference, there were no rural and regional directors in the whole southern half of the state, including the south-west and south-east across to the coast,” Cr Tout said.

“A lot of the feedback I got from representatives from other councils before the vote was that they were keen to have someone on the board from this half of the state because I'm in it with them.

“We're on various JOs together, such as the Riverina Joint Organisation and Canberra Region Joint Organisation (CRJO), and we meet regularly with Albury and Griffith.

“I think it's important having someone with an understanding of not only rural and regional areas, but also in the southern half of the state, so whatever issues are happening here, there's someone who knows that decisions aren't being made in isolation.

“I can have those conversations and get direct feedback from those councils and that's what will help me when I'm going to the board meeting.”

The first meeting of the new LGNSW Board will be held in Sydney on Friday 8 December.