At its meeting of 28 April 2026 Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council (CGRC) accepted the Demerger Transition Committee’s nominations for members of the Demerger Transition Disputes Resolution Panel (DTDRP).
The Resolution Panel members are:
- Mr Scott Phillips – Chair
- Mr Tony Donoghue – Member
- Ms Michelle McFadyen – Member
Mr Phillips is extremely well qualified to chair the Panel having had fifteen years’ experience as General Manager in NSW councils (Hornsby, Sutherland, Uralla, and Northern Beaches) as well as serving as the Chief Executive Local Government NSW. Mr Phillips has extensive experience in governance processes under local government legislation and has provided expert advice to councils as they consider amalgamation and demerger processes. Mr Phillips has also served as a director on private company boards.
Mr Donoghue is an experienced local government professional and is currently General Manager of Coolamon Shire. Mr Donoghue is also familiar with CGRC having previously sat on Committees associated with the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council, such as the previous Audit, Risk & Improvement Committee and currently sits on the CGRC Joint Regional Planning Panel.
Ms McFadyen is currently an independent contractor. As a trained mediator and conflict management coach Ms McFadyen brings strengths in mediation, conflict management and respectful decision-making to the panel. Ms McFadyen has considerable local government experience across Queensland and New South Wales with over twenty years of senior executive roles including as a Chief Executive with Queensland councils.
The DTDRP will only meet when a matter is referred. It is anticipated that there will be very few, if any, matters that will be referred to the Panel.
The DTDRP Chair and members are remunerated in the same manner as members of the Audit Risk and Improvement Committee, namely they are paid per meeting, and current employees of NSW councils do not receive meeting fees but are entitled to receive reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.
-ENDS-