Council
Working with community to build a better quality of life.
Our commitment: Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council will foster unity, respect elders, celebrate courage, facilitate connection, refine for efficiency and acknowledge equality and govern with integrity.
The Role of a Local Government
All councils operate under various legislation. The primary legislation in which Yarrabah Council operates under is the Local Government Act 2009 (LGA09) The LGA09 empowers mayors and councillors and clearly puts them in charge of their councils.
As the executive arm, Yarrabah’s Mayor and Councillors make local laws and determine policy and other matters at a strategic level. They are responsible for determining and setting the overall direction of the local government and are ultimately directly responsible to the community for the council’s performance.
Under the legislation, the actions of mayors, councillors and local government employees must reflect the five local government principles:
- Transparent and effective processes and decision making in the public interest
- Sustainable development and management of assets and infrastructure and delivery of services
- Democratic representation, social inclusion and meaningful community engagement
- Good governance of, and by, the local government
- Ethical and legal behaviour of councillors and local government employees The Code of conduct for councillors in Queensland sets out the values and standards of behaviour that councillors must follow under each principle
While the LGA09 is the principal ‘head of power’ for the governance of Yarrabah, Council is also bound by the provisions of the following Acts (at a minimum):
- Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008
- Building Act 1975
- Disaster Management Act 2003
- Environmental Protection Act 1994
- Food Act 2006
- Health Act 1937
- Information Privacy Act 2009
- Integrity Act 2009
- Land Act 1994
- Liquor Act 1992
- Plumbing and Drainage Act 2002
- Public Health Act 2005
- Public Sector Ethics Act 1994
- Queensland Reconstruction Act 2011
- Right to Information Act 2009
- Sustainable Planning Act 2009
- Transport Infrastructure Act 1994
- Water Act 2000.
Council’s Mission:
A better quality of life through sponsoring a sense of purpose, respect and pride.
Council’s Vision:
Working in unison and empowering the community to determine its own future.
Acknowledgement of Country
The Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council (YASC) wishes to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land within the shire boundaries – the Gunggandji and Yidinji peoples; and the area agreements developed through previous negotiations that provide clear opportunities and processes for traditional owners to be formally involved in the land planning process.
The Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council also wishes to acknowledge the historical people brought here to Yarrabah from various locations by government policies of the past.
