Awards and achievements

2024 Australasian Reporting Awards

May 2024

Silver Award: Tweed Shire Council Annual Report 2023–24
Category: General Award

The ARA focus on improving the quality of annual reporting and is open to all organisations in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

The Silver Award highlights Council’s commitment to continuous improvement and excellence in its governance, accountability, financial and performance reporting.

View Council’s Annual Report 2023–24.

2024 Engineering Excellence Awards

April 2024

Winner: Tweed Shire Council for the Northern Rivers Rail Trail
Category: 1C – Design and Construction of a public works project greater than $5 million

The Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) awarded the Tweed section of the NRRT top honours for Engineering Excellence in Category 1C – Design and Construction of a Public Works Project – Project greater than $5 million. The award is testament to the collaboration between government, industry and the community to achieve a great tourism outcome for the region and cements the Rail Trail as a benchmark for future rail trail projects.

2023 Australian Tourism Awards

March 2024

Winner: The Tweed Tourism Company
Category: Tourism Marketing & Campaigns

The Tweed Tourism Company was awarded Australia’s best tourism marketing for 2023 for its collective body of work aligned with a COVID recovery strategy that included promotion of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail, A Slow Road to Tyalgum drive campaign, hosting of the Australian Society of Travel Writers Convention and Australia’s first Wellness Tourism Summit.

2023 NSW Tourism Awards

November 2023

Winner: Tweed Tourism Company
Category: Tourism Marketing and Campaigns

The GOLD winning Tweed marketing campaign was a collective body of work that was developed in alignment with Phase One: Recovery of Tourism Australia's THRIVE 2030 strategy.

The destination recovery marketing strategy aimed to achieve pre-Covid levels of domestic overnight and day trip visitation by the end of 2024 and included promotion of the new Northern Rivers Rail Trail, a Slow Road to Tyalgum campaign, hosting of the Australian Society of Travel Writer's Convention and Australia's first Wellness Tourism Summit.

2023 Awards for Planning Excellence

November 2023

Winners: Building Back Northern Rivers – Northern Rivers Councils, Cred Consulting and NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Category: Climate Change and Resilience

The ‘Building Back Northern Rivers – understanding development approvals to support our flood recovery’ document provides informative, practical and accessible guidelines for the local Communities of the Northern Rivers.

The establishment of guidelines relevant to the various local Councils across a large geographic footprint required a broad level of consultation, engagement and agreement. The resulting document offers a simple yet highly effective guide to navigating the development application and planning process required by those impacted.

Commendation: Tweed Planning for Bushfire Resilience – Tweed Shire Council

Council was commended for the critical work undertaken with local communities, landowners, fire experts and NSW Rural Fire Service as part of its Tweed Planning for Bushfire Resilience project.

Through a series of workshops and community engagement, coupled with innovative Shire-wide bushfire modelling and property level risk assessments, Council was available to develop a comprehensive understanding of bushfire risks, with an online portal for residents to access the mapping tool and generate their own property level report. Supplementing this is an easy-to-understand information booklet distributed to community groups and local NSW RFS brigades.

2023 Cities Power Partnership Climate Awards

September 2023

Winner: Tweed Shire Council – Mayor Chris Cherry
Category: Climate Ambassador Award (elected representative)

Mayor of Tweed Shire Chris Cherry was recognised for her advocacy on climate change by the Cities Power Partnership Awards, which recognise councils across Australia demonstrating climate mitigation. Cr Cherry received the award for her leadership in driving climate action and keeping climate on the national agenda in the wake of the devastating 2022 floods and the ongoing disaster recovery.

Australian Institute of Project Management

August 2023

Winner: Northern Rivers Rail Trail – NSW Public Works
Category: NSW Regional Project

The Tweed section of the NRRT was recognised as the Best Regional Project in NSW by the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM). The achievement is testament to the dedication, skill and tireless efforts of NSW Public Works in working with Tweed Shire Council to deliver this project.

Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA)

Engineering Excellence Awards Highly Commended: Disaster Restoration Tracking Database Category: New and Improved Techniques

A combined submission by Tweed Shire Council and Port Macquarie Hastings Council. The project highlighted the benefits when LGAs collaborate and share their learnings. Together the 2 councils created an innovative database to track and repair thousands of road repair jobs, totalling more than $150 million, following the flooding disasters of 2017, 2021 and 2022. The improved data management allows councils to keep a more comprehensive and organised approach to infrastructure management, allowing essential services to be repaired as quickly as possible, while balancing limited resources, meeting funding requirements and planning and procurement legislation, as well as keeping the community informed of progress.

National Trust Heritage Awards 2023 First Place: Northern Rivers Rail Trail Category: Conservation – Landscape

Council’s commitment to preserving and celebrating the heritage of the 24km Tweed section of the NRRT was acknowledged with first place in the Conservation – Landscape category award. Most notably, a commitment to highlighting the Aboriginal cultural heritage of the region by incorporating a range of storytelling techniques along the trail, as well as to the region’s rail history, including the restoration of 16 of the Trail’s 26 bridges and 2 tunnels along the track.

Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA) National Awards 2023

First Place (Level 2): Tweed Regional Museum – Museum on Wheels (MoW) Category: Community Engagement and Outreach

The award recognises organisations that have developed unique and engaging ways to interpret and communicate their collection and stories to the wider community. The MoW transports the Museum into the public realm, showcasing curated content, enhancing locations, exhibitions, festivals, schools, events and engaging with current and new audiences. Highly Commended: Tweed Regional Museum – Museum on Wheels (MoW) Category (Level B): Exhibition Branding The MoW’s vivid design was acknowledged in the Exhibition Branding category. Its design elements and branding were created by Whale Design Co, La Fin Design and Salty Dog Media.

Parks and Leisure Australia 2023 Regional Awards of Excellence

These annual awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding initiatives and innovative efforts of 'the people behind the places' delivering a range of social, cultural, environmental and economic benefits to regional communities. Winner: Fingal Head Foreshore Parks and Active Communities Category: Playspace Award (<$0.5M)

This award is given to a playspace under the value of $500,000 that involves a range of stakeholders, contributes to the creation of a sense of 'place' for its local community and exhibits landscape and/or structural design innovation that delights and aids childhood development.

Winner: Livvi’s Place at Goorimahbah Place of Stories, Tweed Heads
Category: Playspace Award (>$0.5M)

This award is given to a playspace over the value of $500,000 that involves a range of stakeholders, contributes to the creation of a sense of place for its local community and exhibits landscape and/or structural design innovation that delights and aids childhood development.

Winner: Northern Rivers Rail Trail, Zone Landscape Architecture & Tweed Shire Council
Category: Best Regional/Rural Industry Contribution Award

Regional/Rural Australia includes all of the towns, small cities and areas that lie beyond the major capital cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart and Canberra), who make a significant contribution through community initiatives which contribute to the parks and leisure industry. These projects can be play spaces, events, tourism, trails, programs, re-purposing of facilities and environmental initiatives.

2023 Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA)

Bronze Award: Tweed Shire Council Annual Report Category: General Award These awards focus on improving the quality of annual reporting and is open to all organisations in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. The ARA raises awareness among organisations of the need for complete, transparent and timely disclosure of information.

Ministers’ Awards for Women in Local Government 2022

Elected Representative Award – Rural and Regional

Winner: Chris Cherry, Mayor Recognises a councillor who has advanced the position of female elected representatives in NSW. Cr Cherry was nominated for her leadership heading the bipartisan Cross Border Taskforce during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as her leadership and advocacy for the Tweed community following the February-March 2022 flood.

Alternative Pathways Award – Rural and Regional

Winner: Doreen Harwood, Enterprise Risk and Emergency Management Officer

Recognises a female staff member who is breaking down gender stereotypes in NSW. Ms. Harwood, who is the Lead Emergency Management Officer for the Tweed/Byron local government areas, was recognised for rising to the challenges of the bushfires in 2019, COVID-19 and the floods of February and March 2022.

Climate Disclosure Platform (CDP) Cities A List 2022

Tweed Shire Council has been recognised by the Climate Disclosure Platform (CDP) as one of 122 cities across the globe for taking bold leadership on environmental action and transparency, and placed on the platform’s A List for 2022. Only 12% of the 1,000+ cities scored in 2022 received an A score. A List cities demonstrate their climate leadership through concerted and effective action. They are taking twice as many mitigation and adaptation measures as non-A List cities.

2022 NSW Planning Excellence Awards – President’s Award and Commendation

Award and commendation: Tweed Shire Council’s planning team
Category: Country

The awards were received in recognition of Council’s inaugural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Town Planner Development Program launched in early 2022, with the support of Griffith University’s GUMURRII Student Success Unit and the Tweed Byron Local Aboriginal Land Council.

NSW Team of the Year – EHA Excellence Awards

Winner: Council’s Environmental Health Unit For their work canvassing everything from post flood clean-up and mould removal to tackling the reduction of mosquito-borne diseases and COVID-19. This award recognises a team identified as having excelled in their daily roles and significant projects in all facets of environment health.

LGEA Employer of Choice 2021 Presented by Professionals Australia (Local Government Engineers’ Association). The award highlights good employment practices within NSW local government, particularly those that help build engineering capacity within the industry by attracting and retaining engineers and other technical professionals within councils.

Water Industry Operators Association awards Team of the Year

Winner: Council’s Water & Wastewater Reticulation Supervisor Team The team included Chris O’Dwyer, John Anderson, Anthony Pearce, Jeff Holt, Dale Hickey, Gary Cain and Peter Bruggy.

21st Thiess International Riverprize Finalist: Tweed River Management Project Tweed Shire Council was one of 3 finalists in the prestigious Thiess International Riverprize, which recognises excellence in river management, restoration and building river resilience.

NSW Awards for Planning Excellence (2 awards)

Winner: Kingscliff Locality Plan and Rural land strategy Categories: Public Engagement and Community Planning and Hard Won Victory Tweed Shire Council won 2 categories at the NSW Awards for Planning Excellence, which recognise innovation and excellence in planning.

Local Government Excellence Awards  Winner: Tweed Emergency Dashboard Category: Special Project Initiative This award recognises our Emergency Dashboard and Council’s commitment to keeping the community informed at critical times.

Local Government NSW, Excellence in the Environment Award

Winner: Biodiversity and Habitat Management Development Control Plan

The Awards recognise outstanding achievements by local government in managing and protecting the environment.

Local Government NSW, Excellence in the Environment Award

Winner: Tackling Mosquitoes Together – Overall category winner

The Awards recognise outstanding achievements by local government in managing and protecting the environment.

2019 Green Globe Awards

Winner: Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for Organisations

The awards recognise and celebrate sustainability leadership and environmental protection in NSW.

NSW Resilient Australia Awards – Local Government Category

Winner: Industry Central Land Swap project

Industry Central Land Swap project for strengthening community disaster resilience.

Local Government NSW Excellence in the Environment Award in the Natural Environment Protection and Enhancement

Winner: Oxley River ground stabilisation project

On-Ground Works category for the erosion stabilisation project in the Oxley River.

RH Dougherty Award Reporting to your Community

Winner: Tweed Emergency Dashboard

Emergency Dashboard won Category C (for Councils with a population of more than 70,000).

Aquatic Recreation Institute's Environmental Sustainability Award

Winner: Tweed Regional Aquatic Centre (TRAC)

For generating renewable energy to reduce electricity use.

2018 PIA NSW Awards for Planning Excellence, Improving Planning Processes and Practices

Winner: Tweed Shire Council Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Management Plan

Tweed Shire Council and Tweed Byron Local Aboriginal Land Council on behalf of the Aboriginal Advisory Committee.

Caravan & Camping Industry Association NSW Awards of Excellence

Winner: Kingscliff Beach Holiday Park

Best Holiday Park North Coast (100 sites or less) and Winner Best of the Best NSW Holiday Park.

2019 National Trust Heritage Awards – Winner of category Conservation: Built Heritage

Winner: Kingscliff community buildings upgrade

Tweed Shire Council in partnership with Cosmos Archaeology, Aspect Architectire, JM Pearce Architects, Sedgman, Earthsolve, SEE Civil Pty Ltd and Galaxy Projects.

RH Dougherty Award Innovation in Special Events

Winner: Food for Thought Forum

Council's inaugural Food for Thought Forum won Category C (for councils with populations over 70,000).

2018 Local Government Excellence Awards

Winner: LG Professionals NSW Highly Commended award in the ‘Special Project’ category (population 60,000 and above)

Council’s Critical Incident Response Group was recognised for its leadership in responding to the 2017 March flood event at the 2018 Local Government Excellence Awards in Sydney.

NSW Local Government Professionals Awards

Winner: Community Engagement Network

Excellence in Innovative Leadership and Management.

Planning Institute of Australia’s (PIA) NSW Awards for Planning Excellence

Winner: Rural Villages Strategy

Council’s Rural Villages Strategy won the ‘Best Planning Ideas – Small Project’ category.

Trip Advisor Travelers’ Choice Award

Winner: Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre

Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre ranked fourth best museum in ‘Top Museums – Australia’. It was ranked ninth in the ‘Top 25 Museum – South Pacific’ list.

RH Dougherty Award Excellence in Communication

Winner: Community Engagement Network

Council’s Community Engagement Network was awarded Highly Commended (Division B, for councils with populations between 30,000 to 100,000).

Parks & Leisure Awards for Excellence

Winner: Knox Park playground in Murwillumbah

The Knox Park playground in Murwillumbah took out a Regional Award for Excellence in the ‘Playspace: Minor (less than $500,000)’ category at the Parks & Leisure Australia Awards for Excellence, competing against other projects from across NSW and the ACT.

2016 Australian Coastal Awards

Winner: The Kingscliff Matters Shopfront

Australian Coastal Awards for Community Engagement for engagement on the Kingscliff Foreshore Revitalisation, the draft Kingscliff Locality Plan and the Kingscliff-Dreamtine Beach Coastal Zone Management Plan.

2016 Gold Coast/Northern Rivers Regional Architecture Awards

Bud Brannigan Architects received a regional commendation for the Margaret Olley Art Centre at the Tweed Regional Gallery in Murwillumbah.

NSW Local Government Excellence Awards

Winner: Murwillumbah CBD Drainage Project

The Murwillumbah CBD Drainage Project was Highly Commended in the Special Projects category to recognise contributions, achievements and implementations being carried out to improve NSW local government.

Northern Rivers 2015 Regional Business Awards

Tweed Shire Council won the Excellence in Sustainability Award in September 2015 for its successful efforts to make business operations more sustainable.

Local Government NSW Excellence in the Environment Awards

Council was announced the 2014/2015 divisional and overall winner of the Natural Environment Policies, Planning and Decision Making Award at the Local Government NSW (LGNSW) Excellence in the Environment Awards.

NSW Business Chamber Awards 2015

Council won the NSW Business Chamber’s 2015 Excellence in Sustainability Award in November 2015 for its successful efforts in saving energy.

2015 Banksia Sustainability Awards

Winner: Tweed Byron Koala Connections project

Tweed Shire Council was named a finalist for its Tweed Byron Koala Connections project, recognised for leadership, innovation and environmental outcomes in the awards’ ‘Natural Capital’ category.

Murwillumbah and District Garden Club 38th Annual Garden Competition

Winner: Tweed Valley Cemetery (1st prize) and Murwillumbah Lawn Cemetery (second prize)

Large Commercial category.

Local Government Excellence in the Environment Awards

A High Commendation was awarded by Local Government NSW in December 2014 for Council's efforts in sustainable procurement.

Green Globe Awards – Natural Environment Sustainability

Winner: Koala Connections program

Presented jointly to Tweed Shire Council and Byron Shire Council for Koala Connections program in November 2014.

RH Dougherty Awards for Communication – Reporting to Your Community

Presented by Local Government NSW in August 2014 for online communications, community engagement tools and development of an innovative internal Corporate Knowledge Base.

IMAGinE Award for excellence and innovation

Winner: Margaret Olley Art Centre

Presented by Museums & Galleries of NSW in November 2014 for Margaret Olley Art Centre.

Young Achiever of the Year – Local Government Aboriginal Network Conference

Winner: Trainee Case Manager Paris Robinson

Presented to Tweed Shire Council Trainee Case Manager Paris Robinson in September 2014.

Murwillumbah and District Garden Competition

Winner: Murwillumbah Lawn Cemetery and Tweed Heads Lawn Cemetery

Large commercial gardens category – First prize presented to Murwillumbah Lawn Cemetery and second prize presented to Tweed Heads Lawn Cemetery in October 2014.

Museum & Galleries National Award (MAGNA)

Winner: Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre

In May 2015 Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre was presented with an award in the Permanent Exhibition or Gallery Fitout category for the development of the Margaret Olley Art Centre (MOAC).

NSW Local Government Excellence Awards

Winner: River Health Grant, Biodiversity Grant and Land for Wildlife Programs

In April 2015 Council received a ‘Highly Commended’ in the category of Excellence in Environmental Leadership and Sustainability for delivering the River Health Grant, Biodiversity Grant and Land for Wildlife Programs.

United Nations Association of Australia 2015 World Environment Day Awards

Council was announced a finalist in the ‘Best Specific Environmental Initiative’ category for Tweed Byron Koala Connections.

Local Government Arts and Culture Awards – Places for Arts and Culture: Improved cultural facilities

Presented by Local Government NSW in May 2014 for Tweed Regional Museum's success in bringing together three historical societies to form Tweed Regional Museum, the creation and upgrading of facilities to house the collection and new processes to improve the care and display of collection items.

IMAGinE Award – Collection Management Award

Presented by Museums & Galleries of NSW in November 2013 for a Tweed Regional Museum – Murwillumbah project to catalogue its entire collection, before putting the items in storage in preparation for an extension to the historic Murwillumbah museum.

Public Domain Awards – Precincts Award and Best Overall Project

Winner: Jack Evans Boat Harbour

Presented jointly to Tweed Shire Council and ASPECT Studios for Jack Evans Boat Harbour at Tweed Heads by Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia in September 2013.

NSW Business Chamber Awards – Excellence in Workplace Health & Safety regional award

Presented by NSW Business Chamber in June 2014 for a restructure of Council's workplace safety strategy and procedures which has achieved a 40 per cent reduction in compensable injuries since 2009, and a 45 per cent reduction in the amount of worker time lost to injuries.

NSW Local Government Arts and Culture Awards – Leading Arts and Culture: Enduring Staff Contribution to Arts and Culture

Winner: Tweed Regional Gallery Director Susi Muddiman

Presented to Tweed Regional Gallery Director Susi Muddiman in May for establishing the Gallery as a regional destination.

Local Government Excellence in the Environment Award – Sustainable Procurement in Practice – Best Project 2012

Presented by the Local Government and Shires Association in December 2012.

Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) National Landscape Architecture Award for Design

Winner: Jack Evans Boat Harbour

Presented to Jack Evans Boat Harbour at Tweed Heads in September 2012. AILA is the peak national organisation for Australia's landscape architects.

Local Government Landcare Partnership Award

Winner: Tweed Byron Bush Futures Project

Presented by Landcare in September 2012. The Tweed Byron Bush Futures Project undertook bushland restoration works on more than 225 hectares of urban bushland at more than 50 sites, to address threats to bushland integrity in the Tweed and Byron shires.

A.R. Bluett Award (Shires Association)

Presented to Tweed Shire Council in October 2011 by the Trustees of the A.R. Bluett Memorial Trust, through the Local Government and Shires Association. This is the most prestigious local government award in NSW. Tweed Shire Council also received this award in 1975 and 1971.

Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) NSW Medal for Landscape Architecture

Winner: Jack Evans Boat Harbour

Presented for Jack Evans Boat Harbour at Tweed Heads in December 2011.

Ruth Readford Award for Lifetime Achievement

Winner: Clive Easton

Presented to Council's long-serving Entomologist, Clive Easton, at the NSW Coastal Management Awards in November 2011.

Local Government Community Partnership Award

Winner: Tweed-Byron Bush Futures project

This NSW award was presented by Landcare in September 2011 for the Tweed-Byron Bush Futures project.

R.H. Dougherty Award for Excellence in Communication

Winner: Tweed Community Strategic Plan 2011/2016

This award was received for the community engagement campaign for the Tweed Community Strategic Plan 2011/2016 from the Local Government and Shires Association NSW in August 2011.

R.H. Dougherty Award – Outstanding Individual Contribution

Winner: Communications and Marketing Coordinator, Tiffany Stodart

Awarded to Council's Communications and Marketing Coordinator, Tiffany Stodart by the Local Government and Shires Association NSW in August 2011.

Good Communicators Awards – Best Publication

Winner: Tweed Link

Council's weekly newspaper, the Tweed Link, received this national award from Government Communications Australia in April 2011.

Northern Rivers Landcare Award – Local Government Landcare Partnership

Winner: Tweed-Byron Bush Futures project

This regional award was presented for the Tweed-Byron Bush Futures project by Northern Rivers Landcare and the Northern Rivers Catchment Management Authority in April 2011.

Local Government Excellence in the Environment Awards (Highly Commended)

Winner: On-Ground Works for O'Brien's Bridge Replacement – Threatened Species Habitat Restoration

Division C Natural Environment Protection and Enhancement: On-Ground Works for O'Brien's Bridge Replacement – Threatened Species Habitat Restoration. This was awarded by the Local Government and Shires Association NSW in December 2010.

Food Surveillance Champion Award

Winner: Environmental Health Officer, Mark Longbottom

Presented to Environmental Health Officer, Mark Longbottom, by the NSW Food Authority in December 2010.

Urban Planning Achievement Commendation

Winner: Pottsville Locality Based Development Control Plan

Presented for the Pottsville Locality Based Development Control Plan by the Planning Institute of Australia in November 2011.

Engineering Excellence Awards

Winner: Bray Park Water Treatment Plant

The Bray Park Water Treatment Plant won an Excellence Award and the GHD Award for Innovation in Sustainable Engineering Excellence in September 2010, presented by the Newcastle Division of Engineers Australia.

R.H. Dougherty Award – Reporting to the Community

Winner: Tweed Link

Council's weekly newspaper, the Tweed Link, was presented this award by the Local Government and Shires Association NSW in August 2010.

National Trust Heritage Award – Cultural Heritage Corporate/Government (Highly Commended)

Winner: Families of Fortune: Chinese People in the Tweed

Presented in April 2010 for the project Families of Fortune: Chinese People in the Tweed.

Master Builders Gold Coast Region Housing and Construction Awards – Sporting and Community Service Facilities

Winner: Tweed Regional Aquatic Centre (TRAC)

Awarded for the Tweed Regional Aquatic Centre (TRAC) in Murwillumbah in August 2009.

Museums and Galleries NSW Imagine Award

Winner: The Other Side of the World: Migration to the Tweed

Presented in November 2008 for the project The Other Side of the World: Migration to the Tweed.

Engineering Excellence Awards

Winner: Kingscliff Wastewater Treatment Plant

The Kingscliff Wastewater Treatment Plant was honoured with an Engineering Excellence Award and the RTA Award – Infrastructure Excellence in Regional Communities award by the Engineers Australia Newcastle Division in May 2009.

Energy Australia National Trust Heritage Award

Winner: The Other Side of the World – Migration to the Tweed

Presented for the project The Other Side of the world – Migration to the Tweed 1940s to 1960s by the National Trust in April 2009.

2007 Siemens Corporate Responsibility Award

Winner: The Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program

The Tweed Kenya Mentoring Program was part of a team which won an international award for a project which delivered clean, safe drinking water to a remote Kenyan community. The award was announced in December 2007.