{"id":35589,"date":"2025-10-24T08:42:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=35589"},"modified":"2025-10-24T08:42:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:42:56","slug":"women-in-local-government-celebrated-at-prestigious-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/10\/24\/women-in-local-government-celebrated-at-prestigious-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in local government celebrated at prestigious awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Women achieving great things for their local communities in all corners of NSW have been recognised today at the 2025 Ministers\u2019 Awards for Women in Local Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The award winners were announced at a ceremony at NSW Parliament House hosted by Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig and Minister for Women Jodie Harrison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prestigious awards now in their 18th year, celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of women in councils across NSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year saw an impressive field of winners from over 100 nominations, highlighting the many incredible women serving as councillors and working in diverse careers in local government.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The winners of the 2025 Ministers\u2019 Awards for Women in Local Government are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alternate Pathways Award&nbsp;\u2013 Metro:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Jessica Speechly \u2013 Senior Coordinator Environmental Health (Blacktown City Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alternate Pathways Award&nbsp;\u2013 Regional\/Rural:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Kira Mendes \u2013 Parks Maintenance Supervisor (Bathurst Regional Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Champion of Change Award&nbsp;\u2013 Metro:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Vanessa Parkes \u2013 Director City Living (Blacktown City Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Champion of Change Award&nbsp;\u2013 Regional\/Rural:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Naomi Searle \u2013 Director Sustainable Communities and Environment (Tweed Shire Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Elected Representative Award&nbsp;\u2013 Metro:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Cr Carolyn Corrigan \u2013 Councillor (Mosman Municipal Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Elected Representative Award&nbsp;\u2013 Regional\/Rural:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Cr Leah Anderson \u2013 Mayor (Port Stephens Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Woman of Distinction Award&nbsp;\u2013 Metro (joint winners):<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Katie Anderson \u2013 Director Community &amp; Culture (Randwick City Council)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Helen Bradley \u2013 Manager, Resource Recovery Planning (Inner West Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Woman of Distinction Award&nbsp;\u2013 Regional\/Rural:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Karen Partington \u2013 Manager Assets (Lake Macquarie City Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Young Achiever\u2019s Award&nbsp;\u2013 Metro:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ceyda Nalbantoglu \u2013 Digital Assistant (Liverpool City Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Young Achiever\u2019s Award&nbsp;\u2013 Regional\/Rural<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rani Diggs \u2013 Relieving Grader Operator Team Leader (Gilgandra Shire Council)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Councillor Lilliane Brady OAM Award<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Cr Phyllis Miller OAM \u2013 Mayor Forbes Shire Council, President of Local Government NSW<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s an honour to present these awards which celebrate the outstanding achievements of women in local government across NSW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe winners represent the countless women working for their communities as elected representatives and council staff \u2013 from those just starting out, to women with decades of experience in local government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile their career journeys are diverse, the common thread among all the winners is the impact they see local government having in their community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese awards are a chance to recognise the invaluable contribution women make to councils across NSW every day and I\u2019d like to congratulate not just our winners, but all nominees for their exceptional hard work and dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Minister for Women Jodie Harrison said:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese awards shine the light on significant achievements of women working in our councils for their communities. They provide important recognition and celebrate the inspirational women in local government who are leading the way for the next generation of young women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have been making great inroads towards increasing female representation on our councils. The number of women elected at last year\u2019s local government elections reached a record 40.5 per cent of all councillors, but we know there is still more work to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThese exceptional women are role models for those coming through to follow in their footsteps towards a meaningful career in councils.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more information about the awards visit:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.olg.nsw.gov.au\/our-minister\/ministers-awards-for-women-in-local-government%20\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.olg.nsw.gov.au\/our-minister\/ministers-awards-for-women-in-local-government \/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Women achieving great things for their local communities in all corners of NSW have been recognised today at the 2025 Ministers\u2019 Awards for Women in Local Government. The award winners were announced at a ceremony at NSW Parliament House hosted by Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig and Minister for Women Jodie Harrison. The prestigious &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/10\/24\/women-in-local-government-celebrated-at-prestigious-awards\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Women in local government celebrated at prestigious awards&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35590,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35589\/revisions\/35590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}