Uralla Shire Council recognised at Risk Management Excellence Awards

Published on 30 September 2021

Uralla Shire Council has been awarded overall winner of the Regional, Rural and County Councils as well as winner of the Enterprise Risk Category for ‘Improving Risk Culture’ in the Statewide Mutual Risk Management Excellence Awards 2021.

Representatives from Statewide Mutual attended Tuesday’s Ordinary Meeting of Council to present the awards; Paul Bennett, Statewide Mutual Board Member and General Manager of Tamworth Regional Council and Mathew de Witt, Regional Risk Manager for Statewide Mutual.

Mayor Michael Pearce, General Manager Kate Jessep and the Governance and Risk Team were on hand to receive the awards.

“I would like to acknowledge and congratulate the leadership team and the Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC) in the development of the Enterprise Risk Framework and particularly the staff in the implementation of the processes,” said Mayor Pearce.

Council had submitted its Enterprise Risk Management Framework, Risk Matrix, Policy and Register to be considered at the Statewide Mutual Risk Management Excellence Awards in September 2021.

Staff developed the framework and policy in consultation with Senior Management, ARIC and Council. Council now has a ‘live’ Risk Register for both strategic and operational risks and reports high and catastrophic risks to ARIC.  By leveraging off Council’s previous documentation and with the appropriate governance supporting the Risk Register, Council can be more confident it can achieve and maintain standards of good public administration.

Staff worked closely with Statewide Mutual’s regional risk advisors when developing the various risk documents.

“Council appreciates the commercial partnership it has with Statewide Mutual which provides access to learnings from other Councils, as well as comprehensive advice and assistance with continuous improvement programs for risk management,” said Kate Jessep.

“As part of the Award process, Uralla Shire Council has already been asked to share the risk matrix and risk register tools with other Councils,” Ms Jessep said. 

“Improving risk culture is one of the most significant things a council can do to reduce risk,” said Paul Bennett.

“Yet it’s one of the hardest things to do. You can work hard to develop the templates, tools and policies, but the implementation is critical.”

“Uralla Shire Council has really stepped things up,” added Mathew de Witt.

“It is a real credit to Kate Jessep and her team.”

For media enquiries, please contact:

Heidi McElnea, Communications Officer

hmcelnea@uralla.nsw.gov.au | 0407 448 532