On 28th November 2011 a public question at Bayside City Council asked for information on each councillor’s academic qualifications and the courses each had undertaken since becoming a councillor. Information was also requested on the cost of these courses to Council. We’ve copied the responses and provide them in the public interest. We note specifically the number of councillors who have undertaken Director courses and wonder how many, if any, of our councillors have completed similar courses.
Academic Qualifications
Del Porto – B.A. (Hons) M.A Melb; Post Grad Sec. ACU
Hayes – Adv. Dip App. Sci. (Farm Management)
Long – B.A. (Multidiscipline)
Norris – M.A, M. Sc (Econ)
Frederico – B. Bus. (Mktg) Certificate of Business (Tourism)
Cooper-Shaw – B. Comm, B-Ed. Grad Dip Criminology; M.A. (applied Psych) M. Ed.
Russell – Nil
| Councillor | Course | Year | Cost | Course Completed | Certificate Issued |
| Del Porto | Australian Institute of Company Directors | 2011 | $5,900 | Completed | Yes |
| Hayes | Media Training
Presentation Training Australian Institute of Company Directors |
2009
2009
2011 |
$1,350
$800
$5,900 |
Completed
Completed
Completed |
Yes
Yes
Yes |
| Long | Media Training
Presentation Training |
2009
2009 |
$1,350
$800 |
Completed
Completed |
Yes
Yes |
| Norris | Media Training
Presentation Training |
2009
2009 |
$1,350
$800 |
Completed
Completed |
Yes
Yes |
| Frederico | Media Training
Presentation Training Australian Institute of Company Directors |
2009
2009
2011 |
$1,350
$800
$5,900 |
Completed
Completed
Not Completed |
Yes
Yes
No |
| Cooper-Shaw | Australian
Institute of Company Directors |
2011 | $5,900 | Not Completed | No |
| Russell | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil |
Glen Eira Debates 
December 3, 2011 at 12:55 PM
Most of our mob need training – and not from Newton – on
1. Financial management
2. Planning Act
3. Debating skills
4. Director’s responsibilities
5. Communication skills
6. Telling the difference between the wheat and the chaff and how to detect bullshit
December 3, 2011 at 2:03 PM
Smart Aleck, Sorry to say it, but you err. Most of our mob do not need training, they ALL do. In actual fact, none of the present mob are qualified to be Councillors. Also, your list of requirements such as financial planning, communication, debating skills, are quite beyond the present limits of councillor performance.
The necessary skills that need to be added to your list are skills like Logical Thinking, Rational Decision Making, Speaking Clearly at Council Meetings. Avoidance of Comments of a negative or useless nature. Likewise, avoidance of pedantry, avoidance of nit-picking, avoidance of ‘smear and sneer’ tactics. Due diligence should also be mandatory, Councillors should actually be familiar with the Agenda paper. Simple things like that.
Problem areas for our councillors in need of remedial classes, include hectoring other councillors, failure to ensure staff properly answer public questions, failure to ensure that councillor requests for reports are complied with quickly, failure to ensure reports are tabled properly, (ie..at the next council meeting). Due diligence is needed when Councillors are supposed to be running a $100 million or so business. Note also, that council has over 1,000 staff plus hundreds more as employees of ‘consultants’, so there can be no excuse for continuing staff failures to perform.
These are some of the basic qualifications needed by Councillors. Clearly our council has a long, long way to go.
December 3, 2011 at 4:26 PM
Correct Circus Watcher. Due diligence is the most important quality and skill required and one that’s totally missing. Those few councillors who in the past have actually bothered to even investigate and question on these matters have been howled down and ostracised – like Penhalluriack and probably Lobo. Cost effectiveness should always be the bottom line but no one seems to worry about it. I guess because it’s not the admin’s or councillors money they don’t bother too much. What I can’t get over is the $391,000 for RELOCATING a playground and nobody on council even raised an eyebrow nor asks how come we weren’t told this before. That would be due dligience and it’s beyond all of them.
December 3, 2011 at 6:42 PM
Would be a good idea to look at the qualifications of officers too and whether we pay for any of their ‘education’ rather than already having quals when they come into the job. I’ve got real doubts about some of the planners in particular.
December 3, 2011 at 6:58 PM
I wouldn’t blame the planners the administer a flawed scheme thatneeds changing at a State Gov, level. This is on the way.
December 3, 2011 at 9:28 PM
Peter Jenkins, you are right to say, look at the officers as well as councillors. In Glen Eira most officers, barring the CEO, are probably over-qualified. They should be working in a real council, like Melbourne City Council.
As the premier council in Victoria, the Melbourne City Council routinely ‘picks off’ the best staff from suburban councils. Caulfield lost its best ever Planning director Jeff Floyd, who was ‘head hunted’ by Melbourne. A few years later, Mr Floyd was head hunted again and joined Melbourne Water. That’s what happens whenever a suburban council has real top class Directors.
Now, ask yourself, how many Glen Eira Directors have been head hunted? Answer, none. Most of the current crop came to Glen Eira in the time of the Ark. So why are they still here? According to Paul Burke’s propaganda spin they are the best anywhere. Andrew pays them almost as much as himself, hundreds of thousands. So again the question, why haven’t the Glen Eira Directors been head hunted into higher paying super jobs elsewhere?. Perhaps it is because they already tried and failed, or maybe they have been too long at Glen Eira and gone so stale nobody wants them. Maybe they are too set in their old ways to be retrained in modern management processes.
Indeed, why hasn’t Andrew himself already snaffled the top shelf suburban position, CEO at Boroondara, which is, right now, up for grabs?
December 4, 2011 at 10:28 AM
I’m not so sure that academic qualifications provide any real clue as to the ability to perform as a councillor. Training is another matter all together. The inclusion of the Directors course for Bayside councillors seems like an excellent investment. Its other advantage is that it is an independent course run by “outsiders”. Municipal inspector’s reports have spoken about the induction courses held and run by management at Glen Eira and their need for amending. I would go a whole step further and follow the lead of Bayside. I think its important that councillors receive full training from independent bodies rather than from the incumbent administration – especially given the controversial history of this council.Training is one thing and indoctrination into the ways of Glen Eira is another.
December 4, 2011 at 5:40 PM
Just out of interest how much is the Booroondara CEO paid?
December 4, 2011 at 5:53 PM
Up to $340,000 – same as Newton. See our post from the Herald Sun –
https://gleneira.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/are-they-worth-it/