Governance Officer

About us

As a department our purpose is to help the community to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from the impact of fire and emergency events.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) is the primary provider of fire, rescue and emergency management programs and services throughout Queensland. The department encompasses the Fire and Rescue Service, disaster management services, the Rural Fire Service and the State Emergency Service, and also supports other volunteer groups providing emergency response to Queenslanders.

QFES is one department with many services, many capabilities and many partners.

Purpose of the role

The RFS are bushfire experts, who lead and manage a range of operational and organisational functions that provides services and support to approximately 28,000 volunteers (making up approximately 1,400 Rural Fire Brigades), including 2,400 Fire Wardens, who provide fire management, mitigation and response services for rural, semi-rural, and some urban fringe communities across the state. The state office is responsible for the provision of strategic frameworks and vision, drives performance and provides the tools and systems for frontline service delivery, staff and volunteers, and works closely with other public safety agencies to ensure the planning and policy enhances the capability of its people, services, technologies and equipment, to ensure they are contemporary, agile and able to meet the service delivery needs of Queensland communities.

Reporting to the Assistant Commissioner, you will be a key member of the team responsible for providing high-level secretariat services for the State Bushfire Committee, which is a collaborative forum for bushfire management agencies, and provides strategic leadership in the management of bushfire across Queensland. You will also support several other RFS sub-committees, working groups, and meetings, and work closely with RFS business units to assist in the delivery of meetings and their outcomes to ensure systems and processes meet best practice and governance requirements.

Key requirements

Highly desirable requirements
- Knowledge and understanding of governance principles, practices and committee secretariat duties.

Your key accountabilities

Your part in the ongoing success of our department, in supporting frontline services will see you responsible for a variety of work, including, but not limited to:

- Implement and maintain secretariat processes within the work unit to ensure effective corporate governance procedures apply, including records management in accordance with departmental policies.
- Provide secretariat support to high-level meetings and committees by preparing agendas, recording and circulation of minutes and follow up on actions and outcomes are efficiently maintained.
- Provide advice and guidance to senior managers in relation to governance and secretariat support issues to ensure systems and processes meet best practice and compliance procedures.
- Coordinate the collation of quality reports and communications to ensure a high-standard of stakeholder engagement and understanding of timeframes to meet committee and working group objectives.
- Develop and maintain effective communication channels and working relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to promote excellence in RFS corporate governance.
- Assist in the research, preparation and review of reports, briefing notes, submissions, business cases and other correspondence, in accordance with departmental requirements and governance.
- Support business improvement initiatives to ensure tools, systems and processes meet best practice expectations as outlined in internal audits and compliance activities.
- Contribute to project activities on a range of initiatives and opportunities generated by RFS committees and meetings, including identifying issues, and providing timely action or recommendation to support business requirements.

Capabilities

To determine your suitability for the role, you will be assessed on the following Leadership Competencies for Queensland behavioural profiles that link to the "key accountabilities" for this role:
Leadership Competency Stream - Individual Contributor (leading self)

Vision
- Stimulates ideas and innovation

Results
- Builds enduring relationships
- Inspires others
- Drives accountability and outcomes

Accountability
- Fosters healthy and inclusive workplaces
- Demonstrates sound governance

Once you join us we will want you to exemplify the QFES shared values:

- Respect
- Integrity
- Courage
- Loyalty
- Trust
- Applications from recruitment agencies will not be accepted.