NEWS DESK
Hunt ‘retirement’ tied to election Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au
FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt at the opening of the Yawa Aquatic Centre, Rosebud. Picture: Gary Sissons
AFTER more than 20 years representing the people of the Flinders electorate in federal parliament, Liberal Greg Hunt is looking forward to spending more time at home with his family. When announcing his retirement from federal politics last week, Mr Hunt told parliament “it's time to turn to focus on another family: Paula, Poppy, James, Elsa and Charlie the cavoodle”. “But for all the time that we have spent together, and as fond as I am of the Prime Minister [Scott Morrison] and the Treasurer [Josh Frydenberg], my card is ultimately elsewhere sorry, Josh,” he said. “It is with my family. My amazing wife, Paula, who is in the gallery today, is a nurse, carer, counsellor and confidante. But perhaps above all else she's raised two beautiful children largely as a single mother. “I am so immensely proud of Poppy, who is going into year 11, and of James, who is about to go into senior school. They're both getting awards this week and, again, I'm not
there. On Sunday they looked at me and said: 'Dad, this is your last chance to be a proper dad. It's time to come home, Dad’.” His announcement is an illustration of the ever-changing circumstances and decisions in politics. On Friday 1 October Mr Hunt told The News: “I have been pre-selected and am running.” Two months later he was telling parliament that his place as the candidate for Flinders at next year’s election should be taken by a woman. “I think it is time, subject to the will of the local branch members, for a strong, brilliant woman to be the Liberal candidate for Flinders. And I'm very confident about the future of this great party in this coalition.” Zoe McKenzie, who has previously worked for Mr Hunt while health minister and former trade minister Andrew Robb, is tipped as succeeding Mr Hunt as the Liberal Party’s candidate for Flinders. Ms McKenzie is on the board of the lobby group Committee for Mornington Peninsula, whose executive officer Briony Hutton is seeking Liberal preselection for the state seat of Hasting held by Neale Burgess, who will not seek re-election next year. Continued Page 12
New mayor sets new rules Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire mayor Cr Anthony Marsh laid down new rules five days before running this Tuesday night’s council meeting at Rosebud. In an email to councillors on Thursday 2 December - three weeks after being elected mayor - Cr Marsh outlined his changes to meeting procedures. He said the new “approach” stemmed from his desire to “encourage much better transparency of councillor decisions and improve the level of debate”. The changes prevent councillors from questioning council officers during public council meetings without permission from Cr Marsh. As well as reducing the number of
officers attending council meetings, Cr Marsh wants councillors to only question officers during closed briefing meetings. “I acknowledge that this approach may be different to the approach taken historically. However, this practice is aligned with better board practice, has been adopted by other councils, aligns with the Local Government Act, and is supported by our Governance Rules,” Cr Marsh stated in his 2 December email to councillors. He said limiting questioning of officers to the briefings would “encourage you all to come [to public council meetings] equipped with your best arguments”. A shire news release quoted Cr Marsh as saying councillors “will be expected to come to meetings well prepared, having read the [officers’]
reports and informed themselves”. “During the subsequent council meeting [following the closed briefings], councillors will be unable to question shire officers unless it relates to new information and there was no reasonable opportunity to ask the question beforehand. In those instances, the CEO and directors will respond to such questions.” The questions, if allowed, will be asked of the executives because lower ranks will no longer attend open council meetings. “An indirect benefit is a reduction in employee costs due to overtime and time in lieu, making the new process less costly to ratepayers,” Cr Marsh said. Former mayor Cr David Gill said he did not believe the public was interested in “better board practices”.
“[They] wish to know how decisions are made and how they will be affected by those decisions,” Cr Gill said. “The mayor did not consult with councillors or our community on these fundamental changes to the way meetings are run,” he said in apparent reference to Cr Marsh saying he wanted to “unify the council team” and not push his own views (“New mayor to seek council unity” The News 22/11/21). “The changes, if implemented, will take away any real opportunity for elected representatives to ask questions of officers in public on issues that affect the daily lives of voters and our community in general,” Cr Gill said. “I was elected to represent our community and to ask these questions. It is sad to see the loss of these fundamental parts of our local democracy. “Councils need to guard against be-
ing less secretive and try to become more open to the public with decision making.” Former councillor Hugh Fraser said the Local Government Act “does not support” processes that “shut down councillors’ ability to publicly [question] officers”. “Questions of council officers will now be behind closed doors, in secret briefings closed to the community that elected them,” Mr Fraser said. “… These proposed processes are straying into irregular and unlawful territory and reducing public council meeting decision making to a rubber stamp of a controlling majority bloc of councillors.” Mr Fraser saw the changes as “a dangerous nail in the coffin of open democratic transparent local government in this shire”.
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Southern Peninsula News
8 December 2021
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