Annual Report 2005-2006 - Waverley Council

Reviewing Our 2005/2009 Management Plan
Did We Do What We Said We Would Do?
Council’s Executive Team adopted a new EEO Management Plan. Implementation commenced in
April 2006.
An organisational restructure was approved by Council in March 2005 and most implementation
was scheduled to occur in October 2005, with some follow up changes through to the end of 2006.
The implementation occurred on time, with the new department structure and most restructured
Divisions in place on 1 October 2005.
Some changes were then implemented gradually throughout the remainder of 2005/2006 as new staff
were recruited. Various planned physical moves eg the move of Parks staff from Chambers to Mill Hill
also occurred. The one major difficulty with the restructure was the inability to recruit a Compliance
Divisional Manager. This new staff member finally commenced in September 2006. The Bondi and
Beaches Unit was initially scheduled to move out of the General Manager’s Unit and into one of the
four departments by the end of 2006. It will move into Public Works and Services in October 2006.
The outcomes of the restructure will be evaluated in late 2006 and any outstanding issues will be
resolved as required in order to maximise the effectiveness of the structure to achieve Council's
priorities.
ACCESS & EQUITY ACTIVITIES SUMMARY (For more information see pages 125 – 155)
This year, extensive work was undertaken to integrate Council’s Disability, Multicultural and Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander policies and action plans with Council’s Management Plan, incorporating
needs identified in Council’s draft 2005/2010 Social Plan.
Multicultural Policy – Action Plan
Throughout the year, the Bondi Pavilion Community and Cultural Centre continued to encourage and
assist a diverse range of communities to find cultural expression, and to provide opportunities for
cultural exchange. The Centre involved people of many cultures as performers, artists, tutors,
participants and audience.
Council celebrated cultural diversity with events held during the Festival of the Winds in September
2005, Refugee Week in October 2006, the Global Table in April 2006 and Harmony Day in May 2006.
Festival of the Winds
Kite flying is a traditional element of celebration across many cultures and the Festival celebrates
diversity through kites, multicultural food, music and dance. This year’s performances show cased
West Indian, Brazilian, Argentinian, Chinese, Spanish, Pacific Islander, African, Indian and Indigenous
cultures. To encourage active participation, free dance workshops were offered, and hundreds of
local school children participated in kite making workshops in the lead up to the Festival.
Refugee Week
A series of events was organised for Refugee week celebrating the tremendous contribution of the
many people who have come to the Waverley community as refugees. As a forerunner to Refugee
Week, Bondi Pavilion hosted: My family – Showing Diversity, a travelling photographic exhibition by
young people portraying their families, some of them from refugee background, and a series of
paintings by Jeeva Chapman expressing concern for the plight of refugees. On Friday 28 October
popular young comedian Hung Le, who came to Australia as a refugee, performed for about 100
people at the Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club, supported by the Solidarity Choir.
Harmony Day
Council contributed to the celebration of Harmony Day with a poster exhibition of the schools
competition organised by the Anti Defamation Commission of B’nai B’rith at Waverley Library, and
presentation of ‘The Local Government Perspective’ at TAFE’s Harmony Workshop on strategies for
building and maintaining a harmonious communities.
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