Blacktown City Council

Blacktown City Council proudly hosted our annual Sport's Forum on 27 October 2025. We heard from a panel of Inspiring leaders in our Sporting Community and learned of ways to better understand and connect with our community from keynote speaker, Geoff Brailey. This forum saw leaders in community sport to come together to learn from one another. Thank you to all who joined us, your presence and ideas made a difference, we can't wait to see you next year for a bigger and better event! https://lnkd.in/ge2rz9G3

Blacktown City Council is proud to be part of the upcoming National WSUD community of practice webinar! Blacktown Council has adopted Six streams our integrated water strategy. This sets a vision to transform Blacktown City into a water-sensitive city through sustainable water management. We’re proud to showcase how we are working towards this vision collaboratively with our staff and partners at the upcoming National WSUD community of practice webinar “Bridging Silos: Skills for Collaborative Impact.” Our own Coordinator Waterways, Kristy Good, is one of the presenters, sharing insights from our work. Join us to explore the principles and practical skills that make cross-boundary collaboration work and hear real examples of how Blacktown’s partnerships are helping to deliver innovative, long-term waterway health and liveability outcomes for our community. Thursday 20 November 2025 Time: 12.00pm – 1.30pm AEDT Online via MS Teams Hosted by Clearwater Register now: https://lnkd.in/gH4y9Fhr Dr Chathurika Perera Karen Toms Nerida Taylor Dave Janzow Belinda Dohring Phillip Pennisi @Chris Manning Kerri Muller Russell Seawright

It was great to connect with so many local sporting clubs and associations at the 2025 Blacktown City Council Sports Forum held at the Blacktown Exercise, Sports and Technology Hub (BEST) on Monday 27 October. We were privileged to learn from an outstanding panel who shared their insights and experiences with us. Thank you to Dr Phil Hamdorf PhD GAICD, CEO Australian Sporting Alliance for People with a Disability (ASAPD), Australian Gold Medal winning Paralympian, Evan O'Hanlon OAM PLY GAICD and Council’s Coordinator of Recreation Planning and Design, Sarika Shasidharan. A special thank you to our guest speaker, Geoffrey Brailey of McCrindle Research who shared his evidence-based research on generations, demographic trends and social insights we can all learn from to help us better engage with our communities to encourage everyone to be more active, more often. Nicole Castillo Kerry Robinson OAM Tania Buxton

We’re proud to have partnered with NexGen to deliver an immersive, hands-on trade experience for students from high schools across Blacktown. Over two action-packed days, students got a taste of real-world work across a range of trade areas, including: 🔨 Carpentry 🚿 Plumbing 💡 Electrical 🎨 Painting 🖌️ Signwriting After a pre-start safety briefing and an introduction to how Council’s trade teams operate, each student was paired one-on-one with an experienced tradesperson. Through a blend of observation and practical activities, students gained valuable skills, insights, and confidence for their future careers.

Blacktown City Council is proud to celebrate two of our exceptional leaders, Vanessa Parkes and Jessica Speechly, who have been recognised at the Minister’s Awards for Women in Local Government. 👏 Vanessa Parkes, Director City Living, received the Champion of Change Award for her leadership in mentoring programs, inclusive recruitment practices, and her inspiring journey from Council trainee to director. Jessica Speechly, Senior Coordinator Environmental Health, received the Alternative Pathways Award. As the first woman in her role, Jessica has led her team to achieve remarkable success, being named NSW Environmental Health Team of the Year and 2024 NSW Sustainable Cities Overall Winner. Vanessa and Jessica exemplify the talent, innovation, and dedication of women in local government. Congratulations to both on this well-deserved recognition.

Blacktown ratepayers are helping to fund State and Commonwealth services worth about $32 million each year. A new report from Local Government NSW shows councils across NSW are being asked to do more with less. More than $1.5 billion in State and Federal costs were pushed onto councils last year, about $497 for every ratepayer. Here in Blacktown City, that means our residents’ rates help pay for things like libraries, emergency services and waste programs that were once funded by other levels of government. That is one reason Council is proposing a Special Rate Variation. It will help protect essential services, maintain our parks and roads, and plan responsibly for a growing city of more than 450,000 people. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gqsRjZWd

We are thrilled to announce that Blacktown City Council has now been nominated as a finalist for the 2025 Keep Australia Beautiful Awards. 🏅 Our Biodiversity strategy provides a framework for protecting biodiversity through planning controls, on-ground restoration, and community education, is cared for amid rapid urbanisation. 🌳 🍃 Our 2023 to 2033 Biodiversity Strategy conserves, restores and enhances biodiversity and ecosystem health (particularly threatened species, populations and communities) in Blacktown City for the benefit of our residents and in line with legislation, district, state and local level plans. Stay tuned to see if our city wins! 🏆

We are honoured to be hosting the 2025 Keep Australia Beautiful Awards 🍃

Want to kick start your career? We're on the lookout for our next group of apprentices: Aboriginal Apprentice Heavy Vehicle Mechanic x 2 Apprentice Signwriter Apprentice Painter – Graffiti. To learn more or apply, visit blacktown.nsw.gov.au/jobs Applications close on Friday 10 October.

Want to kick start your career? We're on the lookout for our next group of apprentices: Aboriginal Apprentice Heavy Vehicle Mechanic x 2 Apprentice Signwriter Apprentice Painter – Graffiti. To learn more or apply, visit blacktown.nsw.gov.au/jobs Applications close on Friday 10 October.