Celebrating the public purpose sector: Matt Gibbs at the Borough of Queenscliffe

As part of IPAA Victoria’s campaign to highlight the breadth and depth of individuals who work in the public purpose sector here in Victoria, we are showcasing the skills and career story of Matt Gibbs, Communications Officer at the Borough of Queenscliffe, and recipient of LGPro’s Young Achiever Award.

To celebrate United Nations Public Service Day, IPAA Victoria has launched a campaign to showcase the depth and breadth of work undertaken in the public purpose sector here in Victoria and highlight the diversity of skill, knowledge and expertise of people whose work is in public service. In this instalment, we profile Matt Gibbs, Communications Officer at the Borough of Queenscliffe, who was the winner of the Young Achiever Award at the 2022 LGPro Awards for Excellence.

As Australia’s last remaining borough, and the smallest local government area in Victoria, the Borough of Queenscliffe is a tourist haven in the summer and is home to a population of 3,000 permanent residents. Matt Gibbs assumed the role of Communications Officer at the Borough almost three years ago and spearheaded a complete digital transformation as part of his remit.

In our interview with Matt, he describes the improvements that he implemented to redesign all of the Borough's communication assets, including not only the website, its architecture and re-writing of page content, but also building the Borough’s Facebook page from scratch, which enabled residents to have a “digital front door” into the council’s news and updates.

The interview with Matt also explores what he finds most rewarding about his role, his motivations to work for local government and the value of the public sector.

‘I think the value of the public sector was most magnified over the last couple of years over the COVID pandemic, where the greater community had a reliance and trust on what all levels of government were doing,’ says Matt.

‘Especially through the last couple of years, the security and the knowledge that the public sector is always going to be there, and always going to provide for the community is something that I have found a lot of satisfaction in,’ adds Matt.

Matt’s digital savvy and entrepreneurialism culminated in him being awarded the Young Achiever Award at LGPro’s 2022 Awards for Excellence. According to the judging panel, his changes in a “resource-constrained environment were particularly impressive, while effectively gaining the technical skills to deliver the project again was also an outstanding achievement." Learn more about Matt’s achievements by watching his award submission video.

The LGPro Awards for Excellence were announced at the 2022 Annual Conference Awards Dinner, held on Thursday 2 June at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. LGPro is led by its mission to advocate for the local government sector in Victoria.

Download the LGPro Awards for Excellence publication for more information.