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Name: Gordon MacMile 
Position: Acting Executive Director Local Government at the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries

Tell us a bit about your background

I started in local government in 1986 as a pool lifeguard while at university, growing through facility supervisor and assistant manager positions (City of Mandurah) to be employed as a leisure centre facility manager in 1993 at the City of Cockburn.  From then until 2010 I expanded my experiences through all aspects of local government sport and recreation (Cockburn and Mandurah) including facility planning, development, project delivery and management.

My local government roles eventually covered all aspects of Community Development and eventually I took on the role of Director Community Development in Mandurah and Port Hedland.  I returned to Perth in 2014 as the Manager Industry Development at the then Department of Sport and Recreation, looking after the WA State Sporting Associations.

With the election of the McGowan Government in 2017, I spent a year on secondment as Principal Policy Advisor to the Minister for Sport and Recreation.

In 2018 I returned to the (now) integrated department to focus on a range of projects including the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

What do you hope to achieve in your new role?

Each local government has such an important role in the quality of life for its community members and to continually evolve as the community’s needs change. It was challenging times for local communities and local government even before COVID-19 and now even more so.

Success to me will be leading the department’s local government resources and effort to achieve the department’s and State Government objectives and aligning these to strengthen the sectors capacity to provide high quality government to their communities.

What are your most significant achievements with the department so far?

Couple of things:

• Working in the Minister’s office, something I never imagined but a fantastic and challenging experience.
• Completing the negotiations to move AFL from Subiaco Oval to Optus Stadium.
• Working on the Royal Commission to help establish the Redress Scheme in WA and being part of child safeguarding reforms for the future.
  

Where would we find you at the weekend?

I can often be found camping and exploring the natural environment with my family.

Having grown up in Dawesville, south of Mandurah, my main interests are messing about on the water — surfing and water skiing.