For years now we have been highlighting the fact that Glen Eira City Council is the only council in the state which continues to fail its residents by not implementing governance rules which allow:
- A fair dinkum Notice of Motion. In Glen Eira the Clayton’s Notice of Motion only applies to the removal of the Mayor or Deputy Mayor. It does not allow any councillor to present an item for public debate at the next council meeting. Some councillors have argued that a Request for a report is adequate/sufficient and will avoid poor decision making because this involves the receipt of an officer’s report. Well, so does a Notice of Motion!!!!! Furthermore, given this council’s history it can take up to 6 months for this request for a report to materialise!
- Dissent from the Chair. Recent times have seen numerous occasions where the Mayor has simply gagged robust debate. The existing governance rules permit the Mayor to be the final arbiter on all decisions relating to the conduct of the meeting. He alone decides. Last council meeting was a perfect example of how contrary to true democratic process this was.
- Rescission of resolution. Without such a clause in council’s governance rules, once something is voted in by a majority it stands for all time since there is no capacity to rescind this motion. Of course, in the past, this council has suddenly developed corporate amnesia and ignored its previous resolutions and introduced a completely new and contradictory motion – making a mockery of the very notion of good governance.
We’ve therefore taken the time and trouble to revisit the issue of governance laws, since all councils were mandated to review their meeting procedures with the introduction of the 2020 Local Government Act. Here was the perfect opportunity to change the culture of this council, and to empower councillors to really rule in the best interests of their constituents. This didn’t happen of course.
The following table illustrates perfectly how out of line Glen Eira is when compared to every other council in the state. We were unable to view 3 other councils’ governance rules: one link wasn’t working and 2 others were in the process of reviewing their rules. So please consider this table and how far out of kilter Glen Eira is in terms of true democratic process.
Glen Eira Debates 
August 22, 2023 at 2:31 PM
Mindblowing comparing GE to every other council. The place stinks to high heaven when this is allowed to go on.
August 22, 2023 at 3:19 PM
Dissent from the chair is very important when you have a chair who is intent on stifling any motion or debate that is contrary to what the admin wants.
August 23, 2023 at 1:42 PM
A very damning indictment on just how ignorant our councillors are. They even defend the very rules that handcuff themselves to the corporate machine keeping them powerless window display dummies. I can only come to one conclusion that fits almost all the councillors to the person; they tolerate these insults because they are it in for the money.
August 24, 2023 at 8:35 AM
(Hypothetical situation here) Could one imagine some probity issues arose concerning the CEO or Council staff or even a situation like we saw in Casey City Council. When councillors need the CEO’s or acting CEO permission to do so. To me it looks like Glen Eira is wide open to abuse from many angles. The CEO and the councillors should recognize this gaping loop-hole in our local law and come into line with all other councils. Failure to do so only add suspicion as why they do not.
Councillors being able to ask for a report is not the same thing.
Most councils have both Notice of Motion and the ability to ask for a Report. Both are needed.
It’s also about time we had a review of our Local Law and Procedures.