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Wednesday 30 May 2018
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Councils face new Act laws Neil Walker neil@baysidenews.com.au
All fired up Elder Chris West, left, Jillian Wet and Therese Dalakian-Favaloro at a welcome to country and smoking ceremony to launch a Deadly Yakka jobs program for Indigenous people in the region. See page 5. Picture: Gary Sissons
COUNCILLORS and mayors who seriously misbehave could be suspended for up to a year under new provisions in an amended Local Government Act introduced by the state government. Victorian Local Government Minister Marlene Kairouz introduced a bill into Parliament last Wednesday (23 May) to replace the Local Government Act 1989 in a move the Labor state government says “will modernise” councils across the state. “Clearly defining” sexual harassment has been included in a revised councillors’ code of conduct included in the new Local Government Act. The inclusion of the clause follows a high-profile investigation of former Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle amid complaints from female councillors about his conduct. “We are bringing this Act into the 21st century – helping make councils more accountable and focused on the needs of their communities,” Ms Kairouz said. “Mayors and councillors who behave badly will be gone for a year – the days of them acting with impunity are over.” The Local Government Minister
will also have “the power to suspend individual councillors who pose a significant threat to the governance of a council for up to a year”. Councils will be required under the new Act to develop four-year budgets and the mayor of the day will provide an annual update on the budget plan to ratepayers each year. “We want councils focused on the long-term and these changes will help them do exactly that,” Ms Kairouz said. The updated Local Government Act for Victorian councils comes after three years of community consultation. Kingston mayor Cr Steve Staikos said council supported the changes in principle but had made concerns about new conflict of interest rules known to the government in formal submissions during the consultation process. “The Local Government Act was probably due for an overview and an update,” Cr Staikos said. “We have no problems with higher standards of behaviour for councillors.” He said council would prefer existing conflict of rules to remain in place since a new “perception to a reasonable person” clause in the new Act is unclear about what exactly constitutes a conflict of interest.
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