Gympie council’s ‘poor’ culture, low morale blasted by own risk watchdog

With almost the entire senior staff of the council in temporary roles and at least 50 vacancies needing to be filled, the turmoil that has plagued the Hartwig council is heading for a climax that could get ugly. Here is the latest:

Internal turmoil continues to be a thorn in Gympie Regional Council’s side, with its own audit body flagging the ongoing issues a “serious risk” in need of urgent fixing.

The assessment, provided to councillors at Wednesday’s meeting, is the latest in a series of scathing assessments of the organisation’s internal culture and staff turnover.

Councillor Bruce Devereaux, who sits as a representative on the audit committee, said the lack of permanent jobs among the council’s bureaucratic hierarchy was a worry.

“One of the risks they identified was the amount of senior positions in acting roles,” Mr Devereaux said.

It is understood almost the entirety of the council’s senior staff are not in permanent positions.

The report is the latest in a series of criticisms, including an “all-time” low staff survey result and revelations of more than 100 vacancies, some of which as of April 2022 had been left empty for a year.

Gympie Mayor Glen Hartwig said the council was working to fill more than 100 empty jobs amid concerns from the organisation’s own risk watchdog that the internal turmoil and poor culture was a “serious risk” for the organisation and urgently needed to be fixed.

Councillors were told in a separate report at the same meeting that half of those positions were still vacant.

Thirty-five had since been filled, and the council is recruiting 22 more.

The staff shortfall was one of multiple problems for which the council has come under fire from unions, which have themselves been engaged in a month-long battle over a pay rise.

The CFMEU and Australia’s Workers Union have notified the council they could take industrial action by the end of August.

A CFMEU spokesman has accused the council of using “standover tactics” after workers who could be involved in any work stoppages were told they would be locked out for the day.

At Wednesday’s meeting, councillors were told the council’s initial offer of a 1.5 per cent pay rise had been increased to about 3.5 per cent, but this had been rejected too.

This was in comparison to CPI inflation, which reached 6.1 per cent in the June quarter.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said after the meeting the council’s ongoing vacancies were “a serious concern”.

Gympie councillors were told at Wednesday’s meeting a 3.5 per cent pay proposal to staff had been rejected.

“I think anyone would be concerned,” Mr Hartwig said.

“We’d like them to be permanent but you need to go through a process and make sure you get the right people.

“Everyone knows it’s very, very difficult at the moment to recruit.”

He said the 50 unfilled jobs meant the council was running at about 10 per cent vacancies; this was about double what it should be.

“It’s not ideal.”

“It is a serious concern … but we don’t want to rush out and just for the sake of warming a chair get someone in that position that isn’t value for money.”

He said the recruitment struggles were not unique to Gympie.

The councils at places including Noosa, the Sunshine Coast, Cooktown and Cairns were in the same boat.

“Everyone is facing the same challenges; recruitment of quality staff is very, very difficult,” Mr Hartwig said.

“As Cr Devereaux pointed out, and as other local government officials around the state say, it’s not simply a Gympie issue … right now it’s a struggle to recruit.”