Welcome to the new Northern Rivers Joint Organisation

Friday, 22 June 2018

History was made on Friday 22 June when the Northern Rivers Regional Organisation of Councils (NOROC) was formally dissolved and the new Northern Rivers Joint Organisation (NRJO) was formed.

At the inaugural meeting held in Lismore, Cr Danielle Mulholland, Mayor of Kyogle Shire Council, was voted unopposed to Chair the new JO. The Northern Rivers Joint Organisation will comprise the six Local Government Areas of Ballina, Byron, Lismore, Richmond Valley, Kyogle and Tweed.

Councillor Mulholland said, "The former NOROC model served its purpose and I thank the Mayors of the five other Shires for their support and collegial, professional approach during its time."

"I have no doubt that this willingness to provide a strong regional voice will be carried into the new Joint Organisation structure. As the new Chair, I am keen to ensure that relevant agencies truly understand our key issues and provide more resources and better access to policy makers to address them."

Cr Mulholland explained that the benefit of the new organisation is that it is a legislated body under the Local Government Act, "This means that it will be able to enter into contracts and take on other important roles on behalf of the consenting councils."

"On behalf of the Mayors, I wish to express our thanks to the General Managers, Office of Local Government and RDA Northern Rivers who worked extremely hard to get the Northern Rivers Joint Organisation up and running so quickly. Our focus now will be to engage an Executive Officer and to work as a collaborative group to refine our regional priorities."

"Each council has its unique attributes and issues, but there are important regional issues that are best addressed as a strong collaborative group and the Joint Organisation will assist the Mayors to achieve the right outcomes for the region," Cr Mulholland said.

NSW Government has provided $300, 000 in seed funding to establish 11 Joint Organisations across NSW.