Council & Business
22 August, 2025
New CEO shares aspirations
With the recent appointment of Central Goldfields Shire council’s new CEO, Peter Harriott, The Advertiser sat down with him to discuss his vast experience and vision for the area.
Mr Harriott commenced the role in July this year, after previously serving as the CEO for Wattle Range Council, followed by Greater Shepparton City Council.
What drew you to the Central Goldfields Shire?
In my long career in local government, mostly it has been rural and regional. Central Victoria is ‘me’. Born and bred in Bendigo, I know the area.
This job came up and I thought ‘yep, that has got some nice things about it’. It’s appealing in a personal challenge point of view, because councils are rated in relation to their annual customer satisfaction survey results. We need to turn our’s around.
All councils are financially constrained at the moment, that is a major challenge. I am interested to come here and try and sort that out.
The challenges are what interest me coming into the role.
What experience in local government do you hope to bring to this role?
I ensure that wherever I have gone, I have values of leadership, integrity, respect, innovation and team work. If we put all of those together, generally the performance of the organisation is pretty good. I bring some experience from unique projects I have worked on, whether that was the Shepparton Art Museum, or sewering the town of Beachport in South Australia. We have got a long term project in Talbot where people would like to see a sewer, and I have actually sewered a town that size.
In Shepparton, I launched the concept of the Commonwealth Games. It didn’t eventuate, but it did see the largest investment into regional Victoria laid into a single project ever. A $2 billion investment still flowed through into regional Victoria. Redirecting priority from metropolitan Melbourne to regional Victoria, I thought that was a successful project, although the games didn’t take place.
Local government is a tough gig. Being the CEO is exceptionally tough, but rewarding, I wouldn’t do it unless I loved it. Great strategies have been implemented like zero emissions, zero waste, social justice, gender equity and work with First Nations people. It is that sort of experience and knowledge that I can bring.
How will you engage with the community to ensure their voices are heard?
In a very simple way, going out and speaking to these people face to face. I have been walking the streets, visiting small towns, going to the shops, introducing myself and having a chat. I walked into the first day of the new fish and chip shop in Dunolly, which was fantastic with an open fire burning. I stood next to a fellow warming himself against the fire and he had some issues that he wanted me to deal with. That is the sort of approach I’ve got, I walk around, and talk to people.
The Carisbrook flood situation is ongoing. I have met many people who have had strong opinions in relation to what should be done. We are talking and listening to them, looking at their records, photos, stories, knowledge, and we will take that on board as much as we can. I’ve done flood studies for many years. Shepparton is the fourth most flood prone city in Australia. Before that, I worked in Kerang, surrounded by a levee. I know flooding very well.
We are having these conversations, but it’s a different type of conversation that we have had in the past.
There is a rumour you’re the CEO who doesn’t have a door on your office, why is that?
It goes to the values of openness, integrity and transparency. We should shine light on everything. Local government is the topic of conversation at barbecues and all around the place. It is often criticised because we are inside these buildings and have meetings behind closed doors.
We do have legislation that we need to follow. If we have a confidential matter we need to discuss, it will go into a closed session in a council meeting, we will use the appropriate resolution to do that. If we have got briefings, we are entitled to have confidential discussions and have information kept confidential. That is normal business.
But generally speaking, we should be open and transparent. It doesn’t matter what the topic is, whether it is the levee, aerodrome, whatever, we can just have an open conversation about it. If we disagree, we disagree. But we will be respectful. The door being off allows anybody to walk through at anytime and have a conversation, and expect that when we are, someone else is going to hear it, so you can either tailor what you want to say to me, based on that or you can just be open and honest.
What projects in the Central Goldfields Shire are you most excited about?
We have the pool, that is to be said. It is exciting but challenging. It has got the heritage challenges and it is close to flood prone areas. But we will work our way through that.
I would like to get The Nest going again, we need to do work in that area. That was providing a great service.
I am excited to get some improvements in the education space. We have got very good secondary schools, but I think there is an opportunity for a presence of university and TAFE, I know it’s been spoken about in the past, but I am about to engage with various university and TAFE providers to see what the opportunities can be.
To have a velocity train here approaching the most magnificent station in Victoria, that is exciting to see. We have got the best practicing trains, but the level of service is not sufficient, we need to increase that.
The rail trail between Maryborough and Castlemaine is also a great project. I was involved in the Murchison to Rushworth rail trail and the Dookie rail trails, and they are just the best. If you can link a bakery from one end to the other and put someone on a bike in between, it’s just a hoot of an experience. I have ridden between here and Carisbrook, off to the Moolort Plains, but it is a bit difficult at the moment. It is nowhere near accessible, but it is beautiful.
Combine that with the UNESCO World Heritage rating, and this place has got great opportunity.