• Private certifier gets nailed – depaNews November 2010
  • Wake up and don't worry - depaNews February 2011
  • HR professionals – depaNews January 2009
  • Upper Hunter gets coy – depaNews March 2011
  • BPB kills off B1 & B2 - depaNews July 2009
  • Councillors behaving badly Part One - depaNews December 2009
  • Councillors behaving badly Part Two - depaNews December 2009
  • Who is Peter Hurst? - depaNews August 2010
  • It's time to go, Peter Part One - depaNews September 2006
  • It's time to go Peter Part Two - depaNews December 2006
  • BPB survey on accreditation – depaNews November 2008
  • Improbable things start to come true – depaNews June 2010
  • Sex, lies and development – depaNews February 2008
  • Pizza man feeds non-members – depaNews April 2011
  • Bankstown wins HR Award – depaNews December 2010
  • Love him or loathe him - depaNews October 2007
  • Good Bad & Ugly issue – depaNews November 2010
  • Upper Hunter lets the dogs out - depaNews February 2011
  • IRC puts brakes on belligerent seven – depaNews June 2009
  • It's Tweedledum and not Tweedledumber - depaNews March 2007
  • 28 April International Day of Mourning - depaNews April 2009
  • IRC orders Hurst 'apology' published - depaNews December 2010
  • Debate on IR policy – depaNews August 2007
  • Developer agrees to apologise – depaNews November 2010
  • OH&S Day of Mourning – depaNews April 2009

The Development and Environmental Professionals' Association (depa)

Welcome to the depa website. We are an industrial organisation representing professional employees working in local government in New South Wales in a variety of jobs in the fields of environmental health, public health, building and development control and planning.

We take a broad approach to our responsibilities to members and give advice and assistance on professional issues as well as industrial and workplace issues. We understand what members do at work and that allows us to take a holistic approach. Read more about us...

This site will keep you up-to-date with union news and the diverse range of workplace advocacy issues we deal with daily. We have made it easy for members to contact us with online forms and quickly Join depa online nowaccess information from our extensive FAQs.

What would you like in the 2017 Local Government State Award?

Yes, it’s time to think about a log of claims for the 2017 Award.

Everyone would have received a 2.8% pay increase from the first pay period after 1 July (much more than the inflationary rate) and it is the last pay increase under the 2014 Award. Ordinarily the next pay increase would be 1 July 2017 and, even though that seems a long way off, the unions are starting to get together their logs of claims. The three unions are meeting this week to discuss the best way of proceeding and when we should start. And you can be sure that the miserable and punitive HR flunkies will be gearing up as well to influence LGNSW to do a whole range of horrible things.

The USU has their log of claims already and this is our invitation to members to think about changes you might like to see in the next Award.

We’ve gone hard on issues like ensuring that councils do provide flexibility for work and family purposes, and in the process we’ve had to deal with some really difficult councils (like Bathurst, for example) but things seem to have settled down across the industry in the last 12 months or so.

For the 2014 Award we had a fairly long list of issues. Many of these claims were successful and agreed with the other unions and LGNSW - they included requiring more consultation and less brow-beating by management in the consultative committee; a greater commitment to flexible working arrangements for parents and more of an obligation to facilitate these arrangements; family reunion leave for employees adopted under a “closed” adoption practice; increased paid adoption leave; requiring councils to continue BPB CPD requirements, even if the employee is on paid or unpaid leave during the year; a discretion for councils to provide health and well-being leave from sick leave; and on and on.

For an Award that has been made by consent of the parties nine times, that was good progress.

The next meeting of the Committee of Management will be held on Friday 12 August and the Committee will consider all ideas flowing in from members to develop our log of claims.

Robbo's Pearls...

What’s happening to the senior staff changes?

On 15 October 2021 the LGNSW Board, spurred on by a second recommendation from another ICAC investigation (Operation Dasha) to get rid of the “no reason” sacking of senior staff, unanimously resolved to do precisely that. LGNSW would now support the views we and the other unions have been expressing for decades. This was a historic consensus.

The consensus was to amend section 340 of the Local Government Act 1993 to ensure that the only Senior Staff positions, on term contracts and denied access to the industrial relations commission would be the general manager. And to amend the Industrial Relations Act to lift the remuneration level for access on unfair dismissals.

All we needed was the OLG and the Government to cooperate. That was close enough to two and a half years ago. 

There was some venal opposition from the usual suspects, but the policy was overwhelmingly reaffirmed at the LGNSW Special Conference on 1 March 2022. That was close enough to two years ago.

In April 2023 a Labor Government was elected in NSW. We all had a reasonable expectation they’d be more supportive of employment changes that reduced the risk of corruption and provided fairer working conditions. They say they are.

What have you blokes been doing?

Hoenig and Minns

It’s in the Minister’s office but nothing’s happening. It has been:

since the Government and the Minister were appointed on 5 April 2023. We are still waiting for the legislative changes required.

ELECTION NOTICE

The NSW Electoral Commission is conducting an election for our Committee of Management. We emailed all members about this on 6 March and on Monday 11 March the EC will be posting a Call for Nominations to all financial members.
Here is a link to the Electoral Commission if you are interested in the process -  including nomination forms. 

depa 2024 Election of Officers

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