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SUPPORTING THE PROFESSIONALS SHAPING QUEENSLAND COMMUNITIES


Meet Our Team

Peta Irvine
Chief Executive Officer
Ph: 07 3174 5003
E: peta@lgmaqld.org.au
Peta works Monday to Friday

If you have been involved with LGMA for any period of time, you will have come across Peta.  Peta has been leading the team since 2007 when we were a small, 2-person operation based in the Valley. 

She started just in time to help councils navigate compulsory amalgamations (a trial by fire) and since then has worked to create an organisation which provides support, quality information, connection and highly targeted professional development.  All things, Peta cares about.  Luckily, Peta loves change and has a thirst for innovation which means LGMA has been the perfect place for her to put down roots and shift and grow the organisation to meet the ever-changing needs of the sector.

With a small team, Peta is necessarily hands-on and leads our governance work (AGMs, elections, Board etc.), is responsible for our advocacy efforts where her collaborative style has meant we enjoy excellent relationships across Government, dabbles in training (“just to keep her hand in”), is constantly on the lookout for next research and material to bring to members, curates the conference programmes and is the person you ring for support, venting, industry news and just for a chat.

Peta keeps herself busy with a number of Board roles because (apart from having a very low boredom tolerance threshold – “bright shiny object, anyone???”) she says the cross pollination of ideas between the sectors she works in adds value to each and she is able to bring cutting edge stuff to LGMA from other areas (and vice versa). 

She is a keen (although not necessarily talented) gardener and is loving being part of the Land for Wildlife programme where she is working with council to regenerate native species in her Brisbane property on a riparian corridor.  She is also keen (and slightly more talented) cook (if you spend more than 20 minutes in their company, you can guarantee that Peta and Lisa will manage to turn the conversation to food) and is experimenting with bush tucker grown at home. 

If not on the road for work, most afternoons Peta can be found throwing frisbees and balls for her two ridgebacks.  

Lisa Hamilton
Programme Facilitator
Ph: 07 3174 5005
E: events@lgmaqld.org.au
Lisa works Monday to Friday

Lisa is the Programme Facilitator at LGMA.  This encompasses managing events such as the Awards for Excellence, Inspire Conference, Women in Local Government Conference, Village Forums and Webinars, Regional Forums, the Annual Local Government Conference and many more.  She also looks after our valuable corporate partners.

The other part of Lisa’s role is training.  Since joining LGMA in 2016 Lisa has spearheaded the Propeller Programme and in-council training for council officers.   Propeller is an annual experiential learning model that provides a broad range of local government experiences and insights from a shire, city, regional and aboriginal council perspective.  Lisa says Propeller is one of her favourites as each year she meets great people and experience different communities hosted by varying Queensland Councils.

Prior to LGMA, Lisa had a rewarding career within the hospitality, tourism and event sectors and held managerial positions within major hotel chains in Brisbane, Sydney (10 years) and Perth (2 years).  Key responsibilities included: staff management and training, sales and marketing, business development, financial management, food and beverage operations and event management.

She then followed her heart and went into teaching!  This was a huge learning curve and stretched her comfort zone.  She taught at TAFE Queensland for approximately 10 years, based at Ithaca, Bracken Ridge and South Bank campuses delivering certificate and diploma programmes for hospitality, tourism and events.  She really loved working with students and seeing them grow, develop and find employment.

So the role at LGMA was a pleasant surprise as it combined Lisa’s two loves (the work ones) – events and training .  What she did not expect was how much she would enjoy working in a small team and meeting with different LG sectors of Queensland.  The diversity of the roles and requirements of councils was an eye-opener and makes the role of hosting and creating events and training opportunities an absolute joy.


Georgia Caton

Administrative Support Officer
Ph: 07 3174 5006

E: support@lgmaqld.org.au
Georgia works Monday to Thursday

Georgia joined LGMA in June of 2022 and with her she brings over 9 years’ experience in the customer service industry. She previously worked at Telstra, and prior to that she worked in debt recovery for several years.  

Along with a bright and bubbly disposition, she is an office all-rounder who loves to talk to our LGMA members and assist them with their everyday enquiries.  Georgia’s role includes council subscriptions, invoicing, answering general enquiries, training support, venue preparation and overall accurate account keeping.  Her least favourite role is debtor calls but she was pleasantly surprised at how nice local government officers are when she gives them a reminder.

In her spare time, you will find Georgia at the dog park spending time with her little pooch, Bodhi, or in the kitchen trialling a new recipe.

Lillie Dommett

Administration Officer
Ph: 07 3174 5006
E: admin@lgmaqld.org.au
Lillie works Monday to Thursday

Lillie joined the team in February of 2022 with over 7 years’ customer service experience.  Before joining LGMA, Lillie was also working as an Event Assistant at Event Cinemas alongside with volunteering at Supanovas across the country.

Lillie usually has her hands in a bit of everything, from answering the phone, responding to email enquiries and website support.  Lillie also assists with our event registrations and you may hear from her in the lead-up to some key events such as our Awards for Excellence and Annual Conference. She is also busy with setting up any new members that come through our doors and our monthly newsletter.

In her spare time, Lillie loves to relax and spend time with her dog, Boots, as well as hitting up various brunch spots!


Fiona Cullen

Programme Facilitator
Ph: 07 3174 3501
E: facilitator@lgmaqld.org.au
Fiona works Monday to Thursday

Fiona has had an interesting career path, split between pursuing elite amateur sporting dreams, and developing her skills as a leadership development facilitator and communications professional.

With over 20 years’ experience working with a wide variety of organisations in the commercial, not-for-profit and public sectors, Fiona has worn many hats including strategic marketer, events manager, business development lead, communications officer and now leadership coach and professional development facilitator.

In her role at LGMA, Fiona facilitates professional development programmes for local government officers to develop the skills they need to lead and shape themselves, their teams, their organisations, and their communities. 

Fiona has represented Australia five times in two sports – athletics and bobsleigh – and she applies the lessons learned from her elite sporting career to the business world every day.

Liza Perrett 

Governance Advisor 

Ph: 3174 5006

E: ga@lgmaqld.org.au

Liza works Monday to Friday

Liza brings over 29 years of local government experience spanning over three Councils across Queensland.

Liza has worked for metropolitan and regional Councils and her work experiences have focused on good governance and implementing corporate wide business improvements.  With a practical sense approach, Liza aims to implement legislation and processes that allow the organisation meet its obligations, but also ensure that the team can do their job on the ground without too much bureaucracy.

As Governance Advisor, Liza will work with stakeholders to develop a library of key policy, reporting and monitoring systems.  The focus will be to support the implementation of good governance practices in councils of varying sizes and will work with individual councils to tailor documents, train staff and assist in the implementation and consistent adoption across councils.

Liza is passionate about working for local government, the closest level to the community, and implementing systems that are not only sustainable but flexible for all the organisation to perform their role.  Liza is results and team focused, but can be relied upon to celebrate successes and have fun along the way

Liza loves her touch football, with experiences representing Queensland at the Touch Rugby State of Origin and World Masters in New Zealand in Touch.  She loves camping, hiking and travelling – nothing like a good road trip.

Elaine Brown

Council Liaison Officer
Ph: 07 3174 5004
E: projects@lgmaqld.org.au
Elaine works Monday to Friday

Elaine is our newest member to join the team and has worked in various administrative roles across state government, with a brief foray into the private sector and the last 8 years in local government as an Executive and Governance Support Officer where she provided high level personal assistance, administrative and secretarial support to the Director and other departmental staff across all areas of Mareeba Shire Council.

Elaine is excited to continue her involvement with local government in her new role as Council Liaison Officer for LGMA and will bring with her a high level of communication, interpersonal and public relations skills to ensure that LGMA offers a range of programmes to support officers at all levels and continues to be relevant to, and engaged with, councils across the state. 

In her down time Elaine enjoys reading and you won’t find her far from her Kindle. She has also just recently found a creative outlet in painting by numbers, but luckily there’s no deadlines for completion as her perfectionist traits might win out.

Hazel Sikakau 

Membership Officer
Ph: 07 3174 5007
E: membership@lgmaqld.org.au
Hazel works Monday to Friday

Hazel joined LGMA in late January and has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to all thing customer service. With over 6 years’ experience Hazel has spent majority of that time at Woolworths as a part time duty manager and has also gained experience working in retail. It’s safe to say she found a true passion for the customer service industry and wishes to further develop and hone those skills. Although she hasn’t been with the team very long, she is enthusiastic about assisting our new and existing members.

Here at LGMA Hazel looks after all things membership this includes setting up our new members, inviting new members to join us, having conversations with existing members to ensure they are getting the most out of their memberships, and everything in between!

In her spare time Hazel loves to watch any new true crime documentaries on Netflix and welcomes any good recommendations, she also enjoys a good paint by numbers kit.

                  

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