In each edition of Council, we’re shining a spotlight on the individuals steering local municipalities – exploring their career journeys, leadership philosophies, and the vision they bring to their communities. For this issue, we spoke with David Farmer, the CEO of Central Coast Council.
David Farmer has spent nearly three decades leading in local government, often stepping into organisations under intense pressure and guiding them through periods of structural repair and renewal. Now in his fifth year as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Central Coast Council, Farmer’s career spans five councils across New South Wales and Queensland, with a consistent theme of reform, recovery and rebuilding trust.
Farmer’s approach to leadership has been shaped not only by longevity in the sector, but also by the nature of the roles he has taken on.
What follows is a career defined less by steady-state administration and more by organisational reset points, where governance, finance and culture have all required attention at scale.
A career shaped by movement and reform
Farmer describes his path into local government as almost accidental in its permanence.
He explained that he began with a cadetship at a utility-style organisation on the south coast of New South Wales.
From there, he moved into general purpose local government at Wollongong City Council, before moving into the CEO role at Mid-Western Regional Council – which was then called Mudgee Council.
“I’ve been doing it for a long time. I’ve been the CEO for five councils over the last 28 years,” he said. “Initially at Mudgee, then to Cairns in far north Queensland, and then I was at Wollongong City Council for almost 12 years, and then at Ipswich City Council in Queensland. And now I’ve been at Central Coast Council for the last five years.”
While the movement between councils has involved personal and professional adjustment, Farmer frames it as formative rather than disruptive.
“Every time you move, you learn something,” he said. “Each time you relocate, you learn about a new community, new geography and a whole range of other things.”
That exposure to different communities has, in his view, been central to his development as a CEO, particularly in understanding how local government systems function under pressure and change.
Farmer’s early CEO experience at Cairns Regional Council marked his first encounter with large-scale organisational issues. He stepped into the organisation following a difficult merger and system-wide instability.
“It was a bit of an organisation in disarray,” he said.
“They had some financial problems and a whole range of systems problems. That was, I guess, my initiation into rebuilding an organisation in a difficult situation.”
From there, subsequent appointments would see him repeatedly placed into environments undergoing significant governance repair, including periods where councils were placed under administration due to major integrity or financial issues.
Leading through crisis and institutional repair
Farmer’s career has included leadership roles in councils that have faced serious governance breakdowns, including corruption investigations and financial collapse scenarios. The pattern across his roles is consistent: stabilise the organisation, restore systems, and rebuild trust.
At Wollongong, he returned to a council he had previously worked for, only to step into a major public integrity process shortly after commencing.
“There was an ICAC public hearing about six months after I started,” he said, referring to the Independent Commission Against Corruption process that followed earlier events within the organisation.
“It led to a major scandal and the sacking of the council, appointment of administrators and even criminal charges,” he said.
Farmer describes his role as one of organisational continuity during a period of external control.
“I had to lead the council through that, through administration,” he said.
“It was an unusual situation because, I had three administrators who didn’t live locally.”
Farmer explained that meant he was a key point of connection between the organisation and the local community during that period.
“In some ways, for the three and a half years of that administration, because we had no councillors, I had to play a pretty significant public role as well,” he said.
A similar pattern emerged later at Ipswich City Council, where Farmer was appointed following another major governance failure and administration process.
“Council was in administration, having had its own significant corruption scandal where the mayor and previous CEOs had been charged with criminal offences,” he said.
“It was a very serious breakdown in governance, systems and processes.”
Across both cases, Farmer emphasised that crises are rarely the result of a single failure point.
Instead, they reflect systemic breakdowns across governance, leadership and organisational culture.
“Every crisis I’ve dealt with, it’s been a failure at multiple levels of the organisation,” he said. “Whether that’s the elected group, senior staff, or even some of the line staff.”
His role in these environments, he suggested, is less about having immediate answers and more about creating structure in uncertain conditions.
“You don’t necessarily always have the answer in the moment,” he said.
“You’ve sometimes just got to work your way through those things. Try and stay calm through those particularly difficult times.”
Rebuilding financial stability and community trust
Since joining Central Coast Council, Farmer has overseen a recovery process following a significant financial crisis that left the organisation unable to meet basic obligations.
“When I came to Central Coast again, it was under administration, and it had a really significant financial crisis,” he said.
“It had lost about $160 million over two years.”
At one point, the council faced liquidity issues severe enough to impact payroll and supplier payments.
“It couldn’t pay its wages and creditors,” he said.
Farmer’s emphasis on composure extended to workforce stability during these periods of uncertainty.
“You had staff who had been told there’s some chance that they weren’t going to get paid,” he said.
“Imagine rebuilding trust with staff after that. Particularly as you had to shed close to one in four jobs, to ensure the council remained liquid.”
In such situations, he said leadership depends on credibility rather than certainty.
“It’s about keeping calm, being honest, being straightforward,” he said.
“Don’t make empty promises, because it’s a long journey to repair in certain circumstances.”
The immediate priority was stabilisation.
“There had to be some very quick action taken to generate some funds to be able to continue operations,” Farmer said.
Beyond immediate financial repair, Farmer’s focus has been on restoring structural sustainability. That has included addressing both revenue and expenditure pressures, while resetting organisational systems.
“We had to significantly address both Council’s income and its expenditure so it could be sustainable going forward,” he said.
The council has now returned to elected governance for approximately 18 months, following its period under administration. Farmer describes this phase as critical for embedding long-term discipline and rebuilding trust with the community.
“I’ve been working hard with Council to try and make them as successful as they can be, so they can serve the community in the best possible way,” he said.
However, the recovery process has not been without difficult public conversations. In order to stabilise finances, the council has had to increase rates while also reducing service levels.
“At the beginning we had to ask the community to pay more and get less,” Farmer said. “That’s a very difficult conversation to have.”
“You lose the trust of the community, and when that happens, it’s very hard to rebuild.”
The Central Coast presents additional complexity due to its size and geographic diversity. Spanning more than 2000 kilometres of roads, the region includes coastal systems, estuaries, rural areas and rapidly growing residential corridors.
“We’ve got a broad range of natural hazards to navigate,” Farmer said, pointing to coastal erosion, flooding and bushfire risk as ongoing challenges.
Recent years have included severe weather events and environmental pressures affecting multiple communities.
“There was a small but intense bush fire that destroyed 25 homes and damaged nine others in the lead up to Christmas,” Farmer said.
At the same time, areas such as the Tuggerah Lakes system face repeated flood-related issues, particularly in highly developed low-lying zones.
Despite these challenges, Farmer said there is opportunity to strengthen the Central Coast’s role as a regional centre, particularly through investment in education, health and infrastructure. Key initiatives include the development of a new integrated library and community centre in Gosford and partnerships with the University of Newcastle.
“Those things together have the potential to increase the viability of Gosford as a centre for health, education and business services. Gosford is also part of the plans for east coast high speed rail which the Federal Government has progressed to the next stage of planning,” he said.
Looking ahead, Farmer believes the broader challenge for local government is structural rather than episodic, particularly as fiscal pressures increase across all levels of government.
“Local government has to work out how it delivers its suite of services with less governmental support,” he said.
For Farmer, the answer lies in disciplined leadership, community engagement and a willingness to rethink traditional service delivery models.
In that environment, Farmer’s leadership philosophy remains grounded in clarity and discipline.
“Develop your plan. Stick with your plan. Be calm, methodically work through it. Don’t get distracted.”
It is a mindset shaped by experience at the sharp end of local government – where failure has already occurred, and recovery depends on steady, deliberate progress.
And while his career has been defined by crisis, Farmer is clear about what continues to motivate him.
“When it’s all going well, it’s fantastic,” he said.
“You build things and communities, and you see real changes on the ground. You plan and build a playground, and you get see the kids playing there.”
