Brisbane City Council

The Australian Business Award for Business Excellence recognises organisations that have successfully implemented initiatives that demonstrate excellence in business management.

“This award reflects Council’s commitment to continuous improvement and business processes that support a well-designed, subtropical city with buildings and spaces that maximise our region’s climate and lifestyle attributes.

“Community engagement plays an important part in Council’s planning process, with more than 3,000 residents and local organisations attending our popular Talk to a Planner events since 2014 which offer opportunities for community members to meet face to face with Council planners.

“Council supports appropriate planning and development that helps our city prepare effectively for population and employment growth and demographic change and I’m pleased that our hard work in this area has received recognition.”

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, Brisbane City Council
Brisbane City Council is Australia’s largest local government in both population and budget. Brisbane Council governs 1,338 square kilometres and a budget of over $2.9 billion.

The Development Assessment (DA) branch is achieving business excellence through maintaining a consistent focus on performance improvement in the face of significant challenges such as new legislation, severe weather events and skills shortages. They are able to do this through a sustained strategic commitment to continuous improvement in partnership with key stakeholders. The journey commenced in 2009 when the then Lord Mayor of Brisbane, Campbell Newman, declared that Brisbane would become “the most effective and timely assessment agency in Australia”. In response to this challenge, DA Branch transformed itself from a paper-based, methodical organisation and a “one size fits all” approach to a streamlined, e-enabled business that makes decisions based on risk, embraces innovation and partners with industry to delivery city wide outcomes.

DA Branch has not only maintained the transformational changes implemented over the last six years, but has continued to actively pursue opportunities for further improvement. There is now an embedded culture of “how can we do this better?” supported by a systematic approach to strategic planning and ongoing data, research and reporting to identify opportunities as they arise. The continuous improvement approach adopted by the DA Branch incorporates processes to identify and implement both planned and emerging improvement initiatives. Both of these processes are driven by a dedicated Business Performance and Improvement (BPI) Team. The BPI Team continuously monitors qualitative and quantitative data collated through regular data gathering and reporting activities. When a potential issue or opportunity is identified, a business analyst from within the team is allocated to explore potential improvements.

The effectiveness of the DA Branch approach to business excellence is evident in the outcomes and results being achieved at both a Branch and an individual initiative level. In the face of significant legislative changes, staffing shortages and an industry boom, processing times, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction have remained high. Due to this success, Brisbane City Council is being recognised for a Business Excellence Award in the Australian Business Awards 2016.