The Company Principal, Ray Hornery completed his contract as the General Manager of Blayney Shire Council in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales in 2003. His background is in engineering and planning, having spent 42 years as a public servant, 39 of those years in local government. He moved to Blayney in 1978 as the Shire Engineer and Planner retaining that position for 16 years.

In 1994, he was appointed Blayney Shire Council’s first General Manager under the new Local Government Act, a position he retained until 2003.

His life as a Local Government Manager was multi faceted. His long career in local government gave him a comprehensive understanding of how the third tier of government provides services to the community.

• As the principal Engineer, he advised his Council on works programs, prepared budgets and executed the works programs.
• As Planner, he had oversight of development of the Shire.
• As Local Emergency Management Office, he administered the Shire’s Local Emergency Management Plan.
• As Deputy Fire Control Officer, he played a key role in managing the Rural Fire Service for the Shire.
• As General Manager of a Council with an annual budget of some $15m, he successfully managed the varied functions of administration.
• As General Manager, he was the driving force in promoting industrial and community development in the Shire, results of which are well recognized within the NSW local government industry and with the NSW State Government.
• Within the Community, he was a Director of the Blayney District Hospital for 10 years, Project Manager for a 24-unit community frail aged hostel and Council’s representative on the Central West Economic Development Group.

Critical to all those local government functions was the importance of community consultation.

He has a strength in managing the role of local government when processing major developments. He was instrumental in drafting a proposed change in the NSW Planning legislation to permit across-local government boundary developer contributions to mitigate impacts on infrastructure. The proposed changes relate specifically to the mining industry.

He chaired the Award winning planning committee for Newcrest’s, Cadia Gold Mine, a $600m open cut gold mining project 30kms from Blayney, assisting the planning process for the State Government. The planning project received the IMM – Sydney Morning Herald Gold Award for Management Excellence for the innovative approach and the development of the community enhancement process, now adopted by the NSW Government as an integral part of consents for major projects.

In 2001, Mr Hornery was appointed Independent Chair, by Orange City Council, to convene, hear and review community concerns on a proposal to convert community land to operational land in the City.
Perhaps the highlight of Mr Hornery’s career in Local Government came in 2001. Under his stewardship, Blayney Shire Council received the Year 2000 Bluett Award for Excellence in Local Government Management in New South Wales.

Since his departure from local government, Mr Hornery has continued his involvement with communities, some projects being at an international level.

In 2004 he was the community representative on a University Partnership project, a pilot project to establish linkages between universities and the community. The initiative was that of the NSW Department of State and Regional Development and the partnership was between Charles Sturt University and the communities of Blayney and Parkes, in New South Wales.

As a member of the Register of Engineers for Disaster Relief (RedR Australia) Mr Hornery has been engaged on three international assignments. In 2004 he was appointed as Senior Engineer to the United Nations World Food Progam in Myanmar (Burma) to provide technical advice to WFP on work programs for impoverished ex-opium poppy growers in the mountainous regions of Myanmar.The Australian Government’s international aid authority, AusAID, is the major donor to the program, and to a large extent, Mr Hornery’s role was funded by AusAID through RedR. He developed and implemented work productivity rates and programs for Food for Work activities, which involved significant collaboration with many communities, aid organisations and government representatives.

On his return to Australia in 2005, he was appointed by UNOCHA, the UN’s disaster recovery authority, to coordinate the recovery of a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean following its devastation by a tropical cyclone. Later in 2005, at the request of WFP, he returned to Myanmar (Burma) to continue developing Food for Work activities in a much expanded program.

He has a passion for regional development, community capacity building and the pro-active assistance Local Government must facilitate for developers in partnership with the community to achieve sustainable economic development. To this end, he has a consulting practice with clients involved in the expansion of their businesses both nationally and internationally, facilitating local and state government discussions on the impacts those expansions have on local communities.

Highlights

• Chair of the Award-winning planning committee for Newcrest’s, Cadia Gold Mine, a $600m open cut gold mining project 30kms from Blayney, assisting the planning process for the State Government. The planning project received the IMM – Sydney Morning Herald Gold Award for Management Excellence for the innovative approach and the development of the community enhancement process, now adopted by the NSW Government as an integral part of consents for major projects.
• Under his stewardship, Blayney Shire Council received the Year 2000 Bluett Award for Excellence in Local Government Management in New South Wales.
• Community representative on the University Partnership project, a pilot project to establish linkages between universities and the community.

Speaking Engagements

Speaking engagements include:   

• The NSW State and Regional Development’s Communities Conference outlining his involvement with Federal Government’s pilot project “Invest Australia”, an initiative to collate a database of community strengths for potential Australian and international business investment. (2001)
• The NSW Local Government Finance Professionals on business growth of a regional community. (2003)
• The Queensland Local Government Accountants Association on business growth of a regional community. (2003)
• The International Energy Association’s Asia Pacific Conference on Zero Emissions Technologies, presenting the perspective of communities as energy projects grapple with planning for the minimisation of their environmental impacts. (2004)
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