Who are you and what do you want? Issues for Australian Local Government Communicators

Presentation delivered to the National Conference of Government Communications Australia. There are more than 2000 communicators working in local government across Australia. However there is little research available to help them organise and plan strategically as a professional group. This presentation was based on a national survey of local government communicators conducted in 2012. The presentation was a rare opportunity to present to a large assembly of government communicators and covered; Background and study design; Demographic and career profile LG communicators; Activities and contributions to government; Job engagement; Work satisfaction and Training priorities. Much of the data presented was previously unpublished. The presentation drew on public relations scholarship to interpret and compare many of the findings, and identified several important issues for further research: gender imbalances in pay and managerial status; enhancing management percpetions of strategic contributions to council; examining the role of communication as the enactment of 'government'; career structures, and the perspectives of other stakeholders.