Greater accountability proposed for councils

The Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024 is designed to improve the performance and accountability of councillors in Victoria. 

Under the proposed law all councillors will be required to complete induction training within four months of taking office, as well as professional development training each year.  

Both mayors and deputy mayors will be required to undertake mayoral training within one month of being appointed.

During her second reading speech Melissa Horne, Minister for Local Government, said there had been an increase in the number of governance interventions, including the appointment of municipal monitors to eleven councils, since the last council elections in 2020.

“ ‘If left unaddressed, recurring governance and conduct issues can undermine public trust in the sector, hinder effective decision-making.' ”

Melissa Horne, Minister for Local Government  

The proposed reform also follows the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission’s Operation Sandon Special Report (into allegations of corrupt conduct involving councils and property developers in Melbourne’s south-east, in the City of Casey). 

‘If left unaddressed, recurring governance and conduct issues can undermine public trust in the sector, hinder effective decision-making, and impede the delivery of essential services to local communities,’ the Minister for Local Government said.

“ ‘Those councillors deserve the respect of having an appeal mechanism to make sure that if they do not believe they have had procedural fairness, they actually have an opportunity to appeal that.' ”

Peter Walsh, Member for Murray Plains

As well as the mandatory training for elected representatives, the law will also create a uniform code of conduct for all councillors (with stronger sanctions for misconduct) and strengthen powers for the minister to address councillor conduct. 

Murray Plains MP Peter Walsh said the powers granted under the bill meant there would be a lack of ‘procedural fairness’. 

‘Those councillors deserve the respect of having an appeal mechanism to make sure that if they do not believe they have had procedural fairness, they actually have an opportunity to appeal that. Part of that process should be a mediation process first, before they actually end up in a court or in VCAT,’ he said. 

Natalie Hutchins, Member for Sydenham, said the bill would help address the ‘cultural issues in some councils [that] discourage quality women candidates from nominating or continuing their local government careers’.

‘By strengthening council capabilities, addressing inappropriate behaviour and elevating governance and integrity we will create more inclusive environments and foster better diversity,’ she said.

Matthew Guy, Member for Bulleen, said the vast majority of councils and coucillors do a good job.

He said, while the opposition supported the bill, it should be amended to increase oversight. 

‘One person, a political person of a political party with no oversight and no appeal mechanism, is empowered with the ability to remove a sitting councillor without coming to the Parliament for oversight from either chamber, which you would expect is a sensible way to approach it,’ he said.

'That is a power that needs to be treated with great caution,’ he said.

“ 'The most problematic changes are changes that give the minister the authority to suspend or disqualify a councillor with apparently very little or no recourse.’ ”

Sam Hibbins, Member for Prarhan

Nick Staikos, Member for Bentleigh, said the bill contained ‘common sense reforms’ that would ‘strengthen oversight mechanisms to support good governance’.

‘The bill provides the minister with the ability to suspend a councillor for up to 12 months, and further to the ministerial suspension powers, the bill enables the Governor in Council to disqualify a person from standing at future council elections upon the recommendation of the minister,’ he said. 

South-West Coast MP Roma Britnell said putting councils into administration came at a great cost to ratepayers. 

‘What we do want to see is people prepared well and trained, having good codes of conduct in place for them to follow and adhere to and to understand the responsibility,’ she said. 

Chris Couzens, Member for Geelong, said the bill would help prevent a repeat of the issues that had affected the Geelong council. ‘I think one of the important factors in this bill is around the power to disqualify,’ she said.  

‘We had councillors re-elected after they were dismissed by this government. There are provisions in this bill that will stop that from happening. I think that is really important, and that is a real comfort to my community,’ she said. 
 
Sam Hibbins, Member for Prahran, said the Greens would be moving a range of amendments to the bill once it reached the Legislative Council. 

‘Whilst we accept that some of the provisions in this bill may go some way towards improving councillor conduct, there are a number of changes that really do give cause for concern. The most problematic changes are changes that give the minister the authority to suspend or disqualify a councillor with apparently very little or no recourse,’ he said. 

The full debate is available to be read in Hansard.

The Legislative Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee is currently inquiring into local government funding and service delivery. 

To learn more or make a submission, go to the Committee's website.