Parks and Leisure Australia will be hosting our inaugural Leisure Planners Course in South Australia on March 23-26, 2026, at Max Amber Sports Field in Paradise SA.
This course will provide participants with the underpinning skills and knowledge required to be a successful Leisure and Recreation Planner in Australia. The Leisure Planners Course has been designed for those early in their sport and recreation planning journey in the public sector, or those transitioning into a planning role. The course is delivery by industry professionals with significant expertise and experience in their chosen fields. Specifically, the course will help participants to:
- Develop / enhance base level competencies of those who plan facilities in order to meet the organisational needs.
- Improve the skills and knowledge of current and emerging practitioners, in line with industry best practice.
- Strengthen capacity to plan, design, coordinate, organise and manage projects.
- Provide networking and potential mentoring opportunities for participants to seek advice, share information and problem solve well after the course has been completed.
- Provide a high quality, industry-based course, that is an extension to formal tertiary / education pathways and work experience.
It will be an intensive four-day course where the following topics will be presented in different modules:
Module 1 – Leisure and Recreation Planning in the local government context
- Introduction to Leisure and Recreation Planning
- What is a Leisure and Recreation Planner?
- Industry challenges and trends
- Influencing Legislations
- Land-use planning Legislation
- Integrated Planning & Reporting Framework
- Council Governance
- Introduction to strategic planning documentation
Module 2 – Resourcing documentation and data for projects
- Situation Analysis
- Gap Analysis
- Developing facility provisions framework for your organisation
- Influences on provision standards
- Other provision and planning approaches
Module 3 – Community and stakeholder engagement within the Local Government context
- Principles of community and stakeholder engagement
- Developing a stakeholder engagement plan for your project
Module 4 – Planning for projects
- Project Governance
- What is a project / project management?
- Developing a project plan
- Site analysis
- Preparing a design brief to inform initial design drawings
Presenters:
Kristie Johnson- General Manager, City of Charles Sturt
The General Manager Engaged Community at the City of Charles Sturt, leading Community Connections (libraries, community centres, ageing well, volunteering, placemaking, social inclusion and First Nations engagement), Community Health & Safety (environmental health, animal management, compliance) and Community Engagement & Experience (media, communications, CX, engagement and customer interactions). Kristie is a current LG Professionals SA Board Member since 2020, current member of Board Executive, and immediate past Treasurer.
Kristie’s passion for grassroots advocacy is shared through her involvement as Executive Board Member of the LG Professionals SA Board, where she has advocated for increased engagement with field employees, supported new Graduate Programs to attract graduating talent to the sector, and positioned LG Professionals SA to represent the local government sector.
Kristie is dedicated to developing others, empowering them to take courageous and progressive steps in connecting with and caring for our diverse and vibrant community. Kristie is an experienced people leader with a desire to created genuine connections with our community. Experienced across disciplines including Media, Marketing and Communications, Customer Experience, Consultation and Engagement and Community Advocacy. A trained journalist with a Masters Degree in Journalism, Honours in International Politics, and Graduate Diploma in Business Management, Kristie began her working life with a baptism of fire in the Senate in Canberra as a Media Advisor. She then crossed to local government, where the pace is just as fast with a grassroots connection to the local community. Specialising in leading and empowering teams to achieve genuine community outcomes, Kristie’s passion is in people: developing skills to enable staff to share stories with community and foster genuine interactive connections.