Who We Are
The Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation
(ISJO) consists of four member councils:
- Kiama
- Shellharbour
- Shoalhaven
- Wollongong
Our councils have a combined area of some 5,800 square kilometres and a population of approximately 404,000 people.
Joint Organisations (JOs) are statutory local government bodies under the NSW Local Government Amendment (Regional Joint Organisations) Act 2017 No 65 and the NSW Local Government Act 1993.
The Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation (the ISJO) was proclaimed in 2018 through the Local Government (Regional Joint Organisations) Proclamation 2018 and has been operating as a statutory local government authority under the provisions of the NSW Local Government Act since that time.
Joint Organisations provide a way for local councils and the NSW Government to work together to deliver things that matter the most to regional communities. They represent a commitment to collaborate in the long term to develop and support a shared vision for a region.
Functions
The core functions of the ISJO are:
- regional strategic planning, including high level planning across the quadruple bottom line
- inter-governmental collaboration through working closely with the NSW Government as well as the Australian Government, other councils and JOs
- regional leadership and advocacy and acting as the regional voice for our councils and communities
Our optional functions include:
- enhancing strategic capacity to support member councils to deliver services to their communities
- providing services directly to our member councils
The current Chairperson of the ISJO is Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM, Lord Mayor of the City of Wollongong.
History of the ISJO
The Illawarra Shoalhaven Joint Organisation came into being on 1 July 2018 following a three year period in which our region trialled, in pilot form, the Joint Organisation model.
Prior to 2015 local government in our region worked together under the umbrella of the Southern Councils Group. The Southern Councils Group developed from the Illawarra Region of Councils (IROC) which began operation in 1985 and carried on until 2004. An even earlier grouping of Councils, the Illawarra Regional Organisation (Region 11), commenced in 1975 and operated until 1979.
In all its various incarnations, local government cooperation in our region has had a common theme: that of a voluntary collective of Local Government Authorities working together to promote and foster the sustainable development of our region by building on our unique and diverse economic, natural and cultural heritage.
