Today’s Media Release from the Minister for Local Government –

Improving the Local Government Act

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Minister for Local Government Jeanette Powell has today introduced the Local Government Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2012 into State Parliament.

The Bill amends the Local Government Act (the Act) to correct a number of shortcomings in the legislation and provide better governance for local government.

The Bill deals with, amongst other things, differential rates, election campaign donations, processes regarding complaints about council Chief Executive Officers and council costs in VCAT hearings into councillor misconduct.

The Victorian Coalition Government will develop guidelines for the appropriate use of differential rates by councils and empower the Minister to seek an Order in Council to stop councils applying differential rates that are inconsistent with the guidelines.

There will be a six month public consultation process regarding the new guidelines before councils determine their budget for 2013.

“There are concerns regarding the growing use of differential rates by councils,” Mrs Powell said.

“”In my view the Act currently provides councils with insufficient guidance regarding the application of a differential rate.

“A significant increase in the use of differential rates by local councils has created a complex web of different rates for similar ratepayers across Victoria.

“There is considerable variation in the application of differential rates between councils with 14 councils levying no differential rate, 39 councils having four or more differential rates and six councils have at least 10.

“Some differential rates are only applied to a small number of properties. 36 councils have differential rates that apply to less than 30 properties.

“The Bill will also improve the public transparency around campaign donations in council elections.

“Candidates are required by law to disclose all election campaign donations, in money or in kind, that are valued at $500 or more.

“In future, each council will be required to publish a list of all donations disclosed by candidates on the council website.

“The Bill also includes amendments to provide for a probity auditor to oversee handling of a complaint about the conduct of a Chief Executive Officer.

“The amendment will give all parties to a complaint confidence that proper processes are being followed by allowing the Mayor or the CEO to ask the Secretary of the Department of Planning and Community Development to appoint a probity auditor to monitor the council’s processes.

“The Bill will also reduce the incidence of councils having to pay the legal costs of councillors in VCAT misconduct hearings.

“Under the changes a council will only be liable for a councillors costs when the council is the applicant in VCAT or has requested to become a party.

“A council will not be liable for costs when an individual councillor has applied for the matter to go to VCAT instead of a Councillor Conduct Panel.

“Councillor Conduct Panels are the appropriate forum to deal with most councillor misconduct matters, as they specialise in councillor conduct matters and involve less cost to ratepayers,” Mrs Powell said.

COMMENT

Without seeing the actual draft legislation it is difficult to comment. However, a few initial thoughts:

  • Removing Council’s liability to pay for VCAT cases into councillor conduct issues is fine. However, this would appear to totally ignore the current problems. As it stands, a Councillor Conduct Panel is conducted in secret, behind closed doors. We believe that it must be an open forum so that accountability is achieved.
  • Secondly, Councillor Conduct Panels do not permit the presence of lawyers. They are chaired by Municipal Association Members only. We again think that if someone’s reputation is on the line then they should be entitled to a proper legal defense.
  • Rulings on various matters that are brought to Councillor Conduct Panels should not remain the domain of ex-bureaucrats. Independence is essential, not only to be seen to be independent, but independent in reality . The ‘boys’ club’ of ex ceo’s and high flying bureaucrats is  far too entrenched we believe to leave such matters entirely up to them. Ideally a former judge or magistrate should chair and conduct these investigations.
  • We will have to wait and see exactly what the role and function of a ‘probity’ investigator is defined as. If it relates strictly to financial matters, then again we do not believe this goes far enough. Currently the majority of the LGA focuses on councillors and their responsibilities. Very little is directed towards staff. The Act must be reviewed and residents must have confidence that the exact same legal strictures that apply to councillors, also apply to employees and are spelt out precisely. The latter’s accountability and transparency must become a formal legal requirement.

All in all, we live in the most interesting times !