Lynn Mason, a former Mayor of Flinders Island Council – and ALGA Vice President – has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Ms Mason received the award in the 2022 Australia Day Honours List in recognition of her “significant service to local government, and to the community”.
First elected to the Flinders Island Council in 1983, Ms Mason served as Mayor from 1996-2002. During this time, she played a key role in reconciliation activities on the island, including apologising on behalf of the Council to the Stolen Generations of Flinders and Cape Barren Islands.
She also made a major contribution to protecting the Flinders Island environment, founding a tree-planting group and organising the island’s annual Clean Up Australia Day for 10 years.
In 2004, Ms Mason was a delegate to the 12th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development in New York and addressed the plenary session of the United Nations on the role of local government in environmental management.
A former City of Salisbury Council chief executive, Stephen Fullarton, was also appointed an AM in the Australia Day Honours List for “significant service to local government, to education, and to the community”.
Mr Fullarton’s local government career began in 1976 in Adelaide, when he became the first city planner with the City of Unley, and where he prepared the Council’s first planning strategy.
He was later appointed Town Clerk and with further studies in management, took an active role in updating and reforming the Council’s management processes.
He became the City of Salisbury’s CEO in 1991, retiring in 2011. Mr Fullarton remains active in a number of public roles, including that of deputy chancellor of Flinders University.
Jamie Hyams, Mayor of Glen Eira City Council from 2018-19, has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in recognition of his service to local government, and to the community of Glen Eira.
Other individuals awarded OAMs for services to local government include:
- Steve Loane, general manager of the Forbes Shire Council;
- Judy Peters, who served 26 years as a councillor on the Bundaberg Regional Council before retiring in 2020;
- The late Lyndon Webb, former chief executive of Towong Shire Council and Wellington Shire Council in Victoria;
- Ann Morrow, a former mayor of the City of Malvern (now the City of Stonnington); and
- Jenny Wills, a Women in Local Democracy (WILD) convenor active in efforts to close the gender gap in Victorian local government.
Noelene Hyde, an executive assistant at the Tenterfield Shire Council, has been awarded a Public Service Medal (PSM) for “outstanding public service to local government in NSW”.
Kirk Richardson was awarded a PSM for outstanding public service in developing and implementing key projects for the City of Onkaparinga in South Australia, and Jeffrey Stewart-Harris was awarded a PSM for outstanding public service to local and state government in Queensland.