There’s a variety of independent learning activities you can complete to help decide whether being a councillor is a role you want to undertake. You could:

• Attend council meetings to get a feel for what is involved.
• Ask a current or former councillor about the role and the skills they find most valuable.
• Talk to family members, friends and colleagues about how they might view you in the role.
• Learn as much as you can about your local community and the issues and challenges it faces.
• Read the Local Government Act 2009 (key sections of the Act have been extracted for you in this resource).
• Become familiar with the contents of this resource.
• Do a self-assessment of your skills and knowledge and take steps to address any areas where you think you can improve.

Legislation extract

• Local Government Act 2009 - s12 Responsibilities of councillors
  
  

  12 Responsibilities of councillors (1) A councillor must represent the current and future interests of the residents of the local government area. (2) All councillors of a local government have the same responsibilities, but the mayor has some extra responsibilities. (3) All councillors have the following responsibilities— (a) ensuring the local government— (i) discharges its responsibilities under this Act; and (ii) achieves its corporate and community plans; and (iii) complies with all laws that apply to local governments; (b) providing high quality leadership to the local government and the community; (c) participating in council meetings, policy development, and decision making, for the benefit of the local government area; (d) being accountable to the community for the local government’s performance. (4) The mayor has the following extra responsibilities— (a) leading and managing meetings of the local government at which the mayor is the chairperson, including managing the conduct of the participants at the meetings; (b) proposing the adoption of the local government’s budget; (c) liaising with the chief executive officer on behalf of the other councillors; (d) leading, managing, and providing strategic direction to, the chief executive officer in order to achieve the high quality administration of the local government; (e) directing the chief executive officer, in accordance with the local government’s policies; (f) conducting a performance appraisal of the chief executive officer, at least annually, in the way that is decided by the local government (including as a member of a committee, for example); (g) ensuring that the local government promptly provides the Minister with the information about the local government area, or the local government, that is requested by the Minister; (h) being a member of each standing committee of the local government; (i) representing the local government at ceremonial or civic functions. (5) A councillor who is not the mayor may perform the mayor’s extra responsibilities only if the mayor delegates the responsibility to the councillor. (6) When performing a responsibility, a councillor must serve the overall public interest of the whole local government area.