Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Bills

Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024

Second reading

Debate resumed.

Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (14:46): I rise to make some comments on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. First of all, I am actually going to do something probably rare in this debate, and that is actually point out a number of councils that I think do quite a good job, because yet again there is another bill from another Labor government which is targeting local government. I accept it obviously around integrity and governance, and we will come to all of that, but there are councils and councillors – and I believe the vast majority of them – who go there for the right reasons and are doing quite a good job.

I want to particularly mention my own council, Manningham, who have done an exceptionally good job at dealing with local infrastructure, at managing their finances, at working cooperatively in council meetings and, more to the point, at doing everything they can to get new housing and the right housing in the right areas. It is not a one-size-fits-all policy, but it is actually acknowledging that there needs to be greater density in areas where it can be accommodated – areas like Doncaster central activities area, where they have sought numerous times from the current state government to get height restrictions that are mandatorily lifted so they can increase housing stock in a major activities area where you would expect it to go, and there are also the same issues around Doncaster East and the Pines. So they are planning and they are trying to do their bit at heavy lifting for growth and population growth into the future, and I think they have been doing a good job.

While I will come onto some substantive points around this bill and particularly around integrity – and that issue is important to note – I want to throw in Banyule, on the other side of the river from me also. That is not always a council that has alignment to my side of politics, but as a council it was worked fairly cooperatively and constructively together in a number of areas, and that has been over a long period of time too. So some councils certainly do deserve a pat on the back for their work in terms of accommodating what is just population growth but also managing themselves in a constructive and sensible way.

This bill, as it says, talks about enhancing the oversight mechanisms by empowering the minister to have the power to suspend councils in the case of serious misconduct. As the Leader of the National Party said in his notes to the chamber – and it is one of the reasons he is moving and we support a reasoned amendment on this side of Parliament – it is putting that power in the control of one minister as opposed to what previously had been the case when it came to a council. There have been examples such as Casey and such as, I think, in the Brumby days, Brimbank. It is a power that we believe should come to the Parliament; we think that is the right way forward.

I know the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) have raised concerns around this part of the bill, and so they should, because putting that power in the hands of one minister will bring the obvious question, and that is: what is the political rationale for doing this? Is this politics? Just look at some of the councils that in this term of government, period of government, have been dismissed. Take Casey out of that – the reports have obviously come in – and throw in Geelong, where there were not any. There was what appeared to be a campaign against someone who was not clearly of the political flavour of the government of the day, targeting the mayor of Geelong Darryn Lyons. That was one where we said if the power was in the hands of the minister alone with no oversight, we would have had significant concern with simply moving on that councillor when there was no period of serious evidence or a serious accusation that was levelled toward that councillor. But that is what this bill would do, and that is one of the reasons we have put forward a reasoned amendment for this.

In some ways it empowers a minister to remove councillors. 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. We do not oppose the removal of councils if there has been a serious problem and evidence built up to date. We have backed, even in this term of government, this government when they have sought to do that in a number of instances. But what we are saying and what the Leader of the National Party has said, I think quite rightly, is that that is a power that needs to be treated with great caution. I think the Municipal Association of Victoria are right to say they have not been properly consulted on this point and they wish to have further engagement with the government on it. It is one that we think – given that these councillors, whomever they are, have been elected – needs to have proper oversight mechanisms in place. That is not to say it is every councillor. I heard the previous speaker – who was, from memory, a previous Labor government minister in this term for local government – make some relevant points around some councillors’ conduct, which does need to be examined, whether it is about their conduct in the chamber or whether it is about their conduct on how they are performing or operating. This is not to say that does not go without oversight – of course it does, and I think in this chamber we are saying there is scope for that. There is certainly scope for that, but it does need to come with oversight attached to it.

There are examples I think we all are seeing of people who have been elected to local government – even to state Parliament, we might argue – who are at this point in time abusing their position on matters that are not relevant to their constituents, particularly in local government. We have such pressing matters around population growth, infrastructure accommodation, cost of living et cetera, and we have councillors who are solely focused, it appears, on either demonising sections of their communities or on international politics. I accept that people will always have views on this, particularly those elected – you are not elected if you are a person with no points of view on matters around the world or locally – but you do need to know, particularly at local government level, what the role of council is and what it should be and what your priority should be for your constituency. That is something that I think this side of the house, and I think in fairness the Labor Party too, have noted that a number of councillors appear to be certainly abusing.

I just note historically – and it leaves me with some concern – there are a number of instances where Labor governments have had issues with local government repeatedly. I noted there were voting system changes that occurred under the Bracks government. I was here for the tail end of the Bracks government. I am not that old, but that certainly occurred in the early 2000s. Then we saw it again under the Andrews government – changes to voting systems, tinkering with voting systems, only 15 ‍years apart. Voting times and voting dates were again changed under the Bracks government and tinkered with again under the Andrews government – no consistency. The rules on being a councillor were changed I think, from memory, in 2008 – who could be a councillor, where you could work as a councillor, limiting what councillors could in fact campaign on and even debate in the chamber. If there were councillors who were elected being in favour of the new park in Balwyn, for instance, you could not then take that to the chamber and vote on it or you would be subject to conflict regulations. I mean, stuff just gets crazy, but this has been a constant for Labor governments over the last 20-odd years. Again we see these changes and/or we see the Labor government again bringing changes ‘to tidy up local government’ but then putting all of this supposed ‘tidying up’ ultimately in the hands of one person, which is the Labor government Minister for Local Government, which leaves us again with some concern.

While we are supportive of seeking to tidy up governance and integrity in local government, we – as the Leader of the National Party has done – put up the reasoned amendment for a reason, and that is to have a discussion with the government and with the MAV and others between here and the upper house around how some of those procedures may work, because it appears they may work but they also may be able to be easily abused, and that is why we have a problem. Rules that I know were being considered, such as the government then saying they would appoint CEOs for councils, I actually expected to be a deliberate part of this bill. In conclusion, I just say that would leave me also with some concerns, leaving control over local government too much in the hands of just one person, in just one minister. I think that is something we have also flagged concerns with, as we have with elements of this bill, around not just the future appointment of CEOs but the control aspects over local government, which we believe would be too finely located with one person, which is just the minister.

Other than that, I think the Leader of the National Party has very appropriately raised a number of points of concern that the coalition has with the bill, hence the reasoned amendment. But we are supportive of future attempts, particularly around behaviour of councillors. I think we have all seen examples of that recently, where the behaviour of councillors and the approach of some councillors do need to have better codes of conduct attached, and that is why we will have a look at those.

Nick STAIKOS (Bentleigh) (14:56): I rise to make a contribution on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. Local government is a very, very important level of government. I am a former local councillor. I was elected to the Glen Eira City Council way back in 2005, when I had a bit more hair on my head and less hair on my face. I was just 19. I still hold the record on that council for the youngest person ever to be elected to that council. The lead-up to the 2005 council election in Glen Eira was a very rugged one, because the then Bracks government sacked the sitting Glen Eira council. There were a number of issues that ran for a very long time that culminated in that dismissal. In many ways I look at the contents of this bill and I do think that had this particular legislation that we are debating today been in place at the time, there could have been some early intervention and some of the bad behaviour that paralysed council’s decision-making and council’s processes could have been avoided.

At the time the then Minister for Local Government Candy Broad appointed an inspector of municipal administration to observe the council and come up with findings and recommendations. Merv Whelan was his name. He released his report, and his principal recommendation was to dismiss the entire council, because of course at the time that was the only mechanism available to the minister. Suspensions or dismissals of individual councillors were just not catered for in the legislative framework. When you look at the covering letter from the municipal inspector, upon submitting his report to the minister, he said:

They –

that is, the councillors –

are widely perceived as ineffectual and irrelevant. According to the Councillors themselves, attempts to implement change have been completely ineffective because entrenched bitterness and resentment between them has negated any will to achieve it.

What he is saying is that the problems and the dysfunction between the nine elected councillors did mean that council was not making any decisions, and that was true. I was elected in November 2005 as one of eight new councillors; only one of the councillors elected in 2005 was continuing. We had a lot of catch-up work to do as a new councillor team. For example, one of the first briefs that I received was about the two aquatic centres that the City of Glen Eira owned.

That brief stated that the pools were leaking 97,000 litres of water per day and they were collectively losing about half a million dollars in revenue every year. All of this was known by the previous council, but the previous council was just paralysed when it came to decision-making because of its dysfunction.

Having said all that, there was probably only one of the nine councillors whose conduct was particularly egregious. I do feel that had this legislation been in place at the time, that councillor could have been dealt with early on either by an arbiter suspending that councillor for a period of three months or 12 months or by the minister themselves, and then perhaps the relationships and therefore the effectiveness of the council could have been preserved. That particular councillor’s behaviour was particularly egregious. In fact for a time he lost his eligibility to sit on the council, but he continued to sit on the council while being ineligible. He was a member of the Liberal Party, actually, and the Liberal Party state candidate – but that is beside the point. But I would say that there are some good amendments in this bill which would have prevented some of the goings-on at Glen Eira nearly 20 years ago – the time has flown.

I will go through some of those amendments in this bill. Firstly, this bill will strengthen council leadership capability and councillor conduct, and it will do that by setting out a comprehensive training program. I found, being elected to council in 2005, there was a long and in-depth induction process. But at the time that was not across the board, that was not across the 79 councils; it was just something that Glen Eira developed as a result of its own experience all those years ago. I am really, really pleased to see that the requirement of training, including specialised training for mayors and deputy mayors, will be codified in legislation.

I also spoke just before about early intervention, and I really do think that that is key. This legislation will allow for the appointment of an arbiter who will be able to suspend a councillor for misconduct for a maximum of three months, which is an increase from one month. Two new additional sanctions will be introduced: (1) enabling an arbiter to direct that a councillor is not to attend or participate in a council meeting, and (2) directing that a councillor is ineligible to hold the office of mayor or deputy mayor for a period of up to 12 months.

The bill will also strengthen oversight mechanisms to support good governance. Firstly, 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. These really are commonsense reforms.

This is not to demonise local councillors – as I said, I was one. Many members of this house were local councillors in previous lives. We have got to remember that local councillors are essentially volunteers. They are not paid a wage; they are paid a modest allowance. It was even more modest than it is now back in my day. They are paid a modest allowance, and despite being essentially volunteers, they participate in what really is a cabinet-style form of government. They are making important decisions on town planning applications, on planning scheme amendments, on municipal health and on various other matters that fall within a council’s core business. They are also subject to public scrutiny. I really did miss the social media era when I was on council – I am making up for it now as a member of Parliament. But the nature of the role has changed, and you really do not switch off when you are a local councillor, just like you do not switch off when you are a member of Parliament; it is just when you are a local councillor the remuneration is not quite as generous. So we do have to remember that local councillors work extraordinarily hard not for themselves but for their communities, and certainly they have my respect. But with that honour of representing your community does come certain responsibilities. They do make important decisions on behalf of their communities, and we need a legislative framework to ensure that we have constantly got the best possible people representing us across Victoria’s 79 local councils.

I would like to finish off by just giving a shout-out to the two local councils that overlap with my electorate. Glen Eira council is one. The City of Kingston is the other. They are two fantastic councils. They achieve good things for their communities. I particularly want to acknowledge the mayor of the city of Glen Eira, Anne-Marie Cade, and the mayor of the city of Kingston, Jenna Davey-Burns.

Local government is an important level of government. It is the level of government that is closest to the people, whether it is sporting infrastructure or any other municipal infrastructure or planning for the future. Both Glen Eira and Kingston are in the middle ring of Melbourne, a highly sought after part of Melbourne, particularly as we hurtle towards being larger than Sydney by the end of the decade and the size of London by 2050. They are doing a good job of planning for the future, they are acting with integrity and they are making their communities proud. I commend the bill to the house.

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (15:06): I rise to speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. This is a bill that goes to reform somewhat the Local Government Act 2020, and it addresses the issues of accountability, conduct and governance within the local government sector. We have seen many councils go into administration over the last few years, and we even had one in South-West Coast, with the Glenelg shire facing that outcome last year. This comes at a great cost to the ratepayers, so 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. The third tier of government is a very important tier of government. We need good people, and we have good people in South-West Coast that fulfil those roles of councillors. We have in South-West Coast the Shire of Moyne, the Warrnambool City Council, the Glenelg shire and the Corangamite shire. There are many good representatives doing their best, but it can always improve, and that is what some of this reform is going to do.

At this point in time the minister only has the ability to sack the whole council when things go astray, and that is not really quite fair when some people are doing the right thing and others are pulling everyone down, so I do like the idea of reform. I also have concerns, as the member for Murray Plains outlined in his contribution, around the minister having the ultimate power, and I completely endorse the amendment, which puts a procedural fairness in the process of appeal so it is not just the minister or one person, because there is quite an obvious possibility that this would be used as a political tool rather than as a fair procedure.

We know that our councils, particularly in the regions, are doing it tough. The assets they have in their charter of responsibility are often state assets, and often we see, particularly with the Labor government in the last decade, the cost shifting that takes place. This puts enormous pressure on the budgets, particularly of regional councils. We also see them being used as scapegoats. Just in the last few weeks we saw the government say they would change the planning rules and take the planning away from councils if they did not approve planning permits for housing blocks. As examples, in South-West Coast we have got the Moyne shire, with amendment C69 for the Port Fairy coastal and structure plan and C75 for Rivers Run Estate. The development of both is sitting with the minister for final approval. These were adopted – one in January 2024 and one in March 2023 – so these are planning process that have gone through independent planning panel processes and have the ability to have up to 500-plus houses put into areas where we need them desperately. We have got a massive housing crisis. We have got people who are homeless. We have got people who cannot find rental properties because the government has made changes to the rental laws which have shifted landlords to a point where they just cannot maintain their properties and are selling them; they are being completely removed from the rental market.

The government makes excuses, but when you see examples like this one that I have just put on the table, where the minister has had over a year with one and six months almost with the other planning permit, which could be with a tick of a box brought to the market tomorrow so that people can start building houses and those properties can be sold, you understand a bit more clearly that there is often a bit of smoke and mirrors going on and the politics at play is more the agenda than actually getting land onto the market and houses being built. People are going and doing their best. The council have done the work they needed to do. The Glenelg Hopkins management authority have done the work they need to do. Everything is appropriately organised now for the minister to just tick off. Yet we sit in limbo, and we desperately need those blocks of land to build houses on.

In my mind the reforms do not go far enough. With the local council budgets as tight as they are, we see in South-West Coast that many of the councils have enormous amounts of ovals, stadiums, halls and assets that actually belong to the state government that the ratepayer is often having to put money into because the state government just do not come to the party. One of those examples is the breakwater down at Warrnambool, which is at risk of crumbling and falling into the sea. It is an iconic breakwater that is an asset to our community and should not be maintained at the cost of the ratepayer. It is a burden that the budget of the council just cannot accept or manage. It is just way too much money. The state need to understand their responsibility, and that is what I would like to see in these reforms so there is a fair and equitable way of rating Victorians so that it is much more fairly shared. We do not have in South-West Coast, in the shires of Moyne or Glenelg or Corangamite or Warrnambool City Council, the level of income that you can see in some of the metropolitan areas, so it is quite an unfair rating system.

But like I said, I support the amendments to the bill put forward by the member for Murray Plains, who is the Shadow Minister for Local Government, because we need to make sure that we do support councils and make sure we have good people who want to take on these representative roles. Many of them have a lot to offer, and we want to make sure that the codes of conduct, for example, that are put in place give them the ability to use those skills. I have heard, in the time that I have been in this role, councillors use excuses sometimes that they cannot discuss certain issues with their community because they are about to vote on the issue in their local government chamber in the next few weeks. That has always perplexed me because that reason does not make sense. The whole idea of being a representative is being out in your community and talking to the community who will be affected by changes that are being made at either local government level or the state level, so to have codes of conduct that some councils have that actually prevent that communication from taking place leads councils to actually put forward ideas that the community do not endorse.

We recently saw that example in the Warrnambool City Council area where it was proposed to put an art gallery on a very significant green area that the community used for picnics and enjoyment, and it really caused an uproar in the community. It should not take that. The council should be able to have those processes in place beforehand so that good communication and consultation can take place and we do not see wasteful use of money when the community are desperately wanting to see other things take place that make more sense to them. That training and leadership capability growth is very important in councils, as is the code of conduct. We see and hear far too often cases where the councillors are frightened to speak. They do not know if they are allowed to talk about certain issues, and they are guided often by the staff within the organisation rather than feeling free to understand their role and knowing the boundaries of what is good governance. That training I could not endorse more, and I am sure the councillors would welcome it.

But we do not want to see councillors just removed unless there is a body of evidence that is built up and they have the right to appeal, which is something in this bill we are not seeing. We definitely do not want to see one person who can then be skewed by influences that may not be reasonable. We need to have a process that is fair. That should begin with mediation initially, and it should have that option of a court appeal so that procedural fairness is made sure to occur. I do endorse the amendment.

I think it is really important that we have reform to local government. I do not think this goes far enough. I think it is important to see training and codes of conduct and to have that flexibility and knowledge within those so that we do not lock people into training that is irrelevant but make sure that they do get suitable training, recognising their prior experience in life and building on the knowledge and expertise that they will need in such a role. But I would like to see the state government understand the pressure that they are putting on the councils. Hiding behind the councils and shifting costs across to them is very unfair. The people who get these rates bills get very upset because of the size of the bill, but I look at some of the hidden costs that are snuck in there on the rates bill, like the fire services levy, which has gone up in the last two weeks from the last budget and will go up next year enormously, along with the rubbish levy, which will not actually assist the local community to get rid of their rubbish. It will end up going into Treasury to fill the budget black hole this government has created with a debt of $188 billion, which will mean we are going to see at least $26 million a day in interest payments. That money could absolutely fix roads tomorrow in South-West Coast that need fixing. It could build schools that need to be built. It could probably in about four days build the car park at the hospital that is desperately needed. I hope the government is listening to the fact that they need to stop cost shifting and be a little bit more honest with Victorians today.

Chris COUZENS (Geelong) (15:16): I am delighted to rise to contribute on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024, and I want to start by thanking the minister for her work on this really important bill. It is important for my community of Geelong. Geelong’s history has not been great. When you talk to people around my community, the problem started with the amalgamation of six or seven councils back in the 1990s under the previous Kennett government, and the impact of that is still felt today. It was never done properly. Then we moved on to a directly elected mayor, which was an interesting test, because eventually that mayor and the councillors were sacked by this government.

A member interjected.

Chris COUZENS: Yes, a parrot on his head. There was an investigation. There were serious allegations of bullying, with many staff away from work with mental ill health claims. We had poor decision-making claims, poor processes and a lack of economic development in our city, so an investigation was carried out. We then had had a commission of inquiry, which found that those allegations did stack up, and then as a consequence that council was sacked. During that period that they were sacked we had administrators in place, and many people you talk to in Geelong even today will say that that was probably the best period we have had since the 1990s, having administrators in place, but anyway.

One of the processes of the minister at the time, who I think was the member for Sydenham actually, was to put together a citizen jury. It was a random selection of 100 people across the City of Greater Geelong catchment area who spent quite some time putting together some proposals with a key focus on whether Geelong should have a directly elected mayor or not, the structure of the council and a range of other things. What they came back with was a recommendation that Geelong should not have a directly elected mayor. It is not Melbourne; it is a regional city and a very proud regional city. But we did not need a directly elected mayor, and the experience of that directly elected mayor was a very bad one.

A member interjected.

Chris COUZENS: It was a disaster, yes. That person then consequently ran against me in the 2018 election –

A member: And who won?

Chris COUZENS: Well, who is standing here today? It was a really difficult time for Geelong, and I think many people in my community felt extremely embarrassed by what was going on. It was not a pretty sight. Eighteen months later, going to an election to elect new councillors, we saw the re-election of four of the councillors that were sacked, much to the disgust of many in my community. But they were elected. Still today we have monitors in place again. We had monitors in place last year. Many of the structural issues that are within the City of Greater Geelong have not been dealt with or improved. I am not suggesting that the same level of bullying is going on there, but there are certainly many issues that are being raised by my community around the difficulty they have in trying to deal with council and have some of those things dealt with without being ignored, really. We still have long delays on decision-making. There are no priority lists for anything, including our sporting clubs, which is a big thing in the Geelong community. The Geelong community have felt that they have not been listened to for a very long time. I think this bill starts to address some of those issues, and hopefully we will be able to see some changes. Keeping in mind there is a new CEO and a number of executive managers, hopefully they will start to bring about some change. But things like budget decisions that have been made have brought out literally thousands in protest against them because there has not been proper consultation. And then on the other hand you have the council claiming that they have consulted, but they are making decisions the community do not want. There are still many issues there.

I think it is a very tough gig to be a councillor. There are some very good councillors out there who work tirelessly for their community but who unfortunately get caught up in what other councillors are doing and the impact of that and possibly officers who are not making the right decisions for their community. I am not saying that all councillors are bad, but we certainly have had a pretty rough run in Geelong, to put it mildly. As I say, we also now do have monitors in place to keep an eye on what is going on, and they will be there for a little time yet. When those monitors are in place, my community feels a little bit more comfortable about the councillors and the decisions they are making, but I think one of the important factors in this bill is around the power to disqualify. As I 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.

We already have seen since 2020 that 12 councils have had municipal monitors appointed to provide support and monitor their governance practices, with the five monitor appointments last term. As I mentioned, Geelong is one of those. Fifty-six councillors have resigned, one council has been dismissed following a commission of inquiry and one has been suspended, so we can see that across the state we still have problems. I think this bill and the tightening up on training and the requirements for good governance are really, really important. As I say, it will give some comfort to my community. We go to an election again later this year, and new councillors will be elected. People want comfort that if things go wrong those councillors will be dealt with accordingly. That is why this bill is so important for communities like mine, and I am sure there are other communities around the state that have the same thing.

This bill will strengthen council leadership capability and councillor conduct and improve early intervention in conduct issues and effective dispute resolution. Again, having that in this bill means that there are provisions in place to deal with some of these big issues before they erupt into an absolute nightmare for communities like mine and that there will be attempts to resolve disputes before they get out of hand and get to a point where a council is sacked, because as I said, in my community it was a very embarrassing period for Geelong. My community did not like what was going on, but they did not really have a choice, which is why we actually put together the citizen jury – so that the community had some control over what was happening. This is a really important bill for my community. I know that my community are watching what happens with this very closely in the debate, because they want that confidence. They want that confidence that if they elect a councillor they are going to do the right thing in their community. I commend this bill to the house.

Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (15:26): Today I rise to stand and make a contribution on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. The bill before the house is a bill for an act to amend the Local Government Act 2020 to provide for ongoing mandatory training for councillors and mayors, improve the councillor code of conduct framework and clarify the responsibilities of councillors, provide for the suspension and disqualification of individual councils in certain circumstances and provide further powers to the chief municipal inspector, as well as make other miscellaneous amendments to the Local Government Act 2020. This bill seeks to improve accountability, governance and councillor conduct across Victoria’s 79 councils. In addition, the bill amends the Local Government Act 1989 to reflect machinery-of-government changes. Further, the bill makes consequential amendments to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998.

As a former mayor and councillor of a regional city, I know firsthand the challenges and difficulties councils right across the state can face managing councillors. Whilst my six years in local government were really positive, there is definitely a need to ensure that councillors are better prepared for their role when elected. I definitely hit the ground running when I was elected back in 2016, and since that time we have seen a large number of councils with serious issues of councillor misconduct and not meeting community expectations, many of which the member for Geelong shared in the chamber today. Since 2020 there have been a total of 56 councillors who have resigned. Eleven councils have had municipal monitors appointed by the government, with one council being suspended and one council dismissed because of governance issues. Clearly things do have to change.

I truly believe that most councillors put their hands up with honourable intentions, wanting to serve their communities, and I take my hat off to those that do that. Clearly there are issues within the current council structure. During my six years in local government I did experience, as I said, firsthand some of the organisational challenges dealing with councillors and poor councillor behaviour and the challenges of managing councillor conduct. I found the councillor code of conduct was very weak, and I will speak more to that shortly.

In the Moira Shire Council local government area, within my electorate of Shepparton, all councillors were dismissed on 7 March last year by the Minister for Local Government after the report Commission of Inquiry into the Moira Shire Council was tabled in Parliament. The findings in the commission of inquiry report were very concerning. As a result, no council elections can be held in the municipality of Moira shire until 2028 – another four years away – effectively leaving the communities that make up the Moira shire with no elected representatives for a further four years. As you can imagine, many in the Moira shire electorate are frustrated and disappointed that they have no councillor representatives and that they will have to wait for four more years.

I was in the town of Numurkah this past week, a town in the Moira shire electorate, and the feedback from the community is that they feel very disconnected from the local council, having no councillors to contact. They have no mayor, and they feel that their town has been abandoned in terms of representation in local government. I have been helping with local matters in that electorate and helping the community members to be more connected to the council. Whilst there were serious matters raised in the report and major governance issues – and I do not disagree with the decision – I do question why the community should have to wait four years without elected representatives. It is on-the-ground locals who know their communities best, and I feel we need to get that representation reinstated as soon as possible. Whilst the administrators are working hard within the organisation, it is not the same as having voices out in the community that the locals can reach out to. The majority of the appointed administrators are not long-term locals. Elected councillors are out on the ground and are the voices of their community. That voice is missing in the Moira shire. As we have talked about, local government is the closest to their communities.

One of the main reports that has been conducted into local government regarding governance and integrity issues was the IBAC’s Operation Sandon, which conducted an investigation into allegations of corrupt conduct involving councils and property developers in Melbourne’s south-east, in the City of Casey. In its report Operation Sandon handed down a total of 34 recommendations to the Victorian government. That included several recommendations that relate to the heart of this bill before the house, such as recommendations 17, 18, 19 and 20. In the bill briefing provided by the government and the department it was interesting to observe and understand the level of support from the industry in regard to changes in the bill. As such, 62 per cent of feedback received from consultation supports mandatory ongoing training for councillors and mayors, whereas only 25 per cent partially or conditionally supports that change.

The Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024 requires all councillors to complete induction training within four months of taking office – at the moment it is six months – and requires all councillors to complete professional development training each year. In addition, mayors and deputy mayors will be required to undertake mayoral training within one month of being appointed to the office in order to strengthen their leadership skills, and as a former mayor I am quite interested to see how that has changed since my time. A failure to complete this required training within the set timelines will result in a councillor’s allowance being withheld. A long period has been provided to complete councillor induction training, and councillors on a leave of absence will have more time to complete this required training. Acting mayors will only need to do mayoral training if they are appointed for longer than a month.

In addition, the bill introduces a model councillor code of conduct that will be prescribed in regulations. The code of conduct will set out the standards of conduct that will be expected to be observed by serving councillors across the state’s 79 councils. As the lead speaker raised, the Municipal Association of Victoria have raised concerns about the standard code of conduct enforcement, and councils have raised the issue of perhaps having their voices included. In my mayoral role for almost four years I saw firsthand issues with trying to address a poor councillor code of conduct, and the process was weak. The mayor would be responsible for addressing issues that did arise with councillors’ behaviour, and that is challenging in itself when your fellow councillors actually elect the mayor. As we know, the CEO has very little input, as councillors appoint the CEO. I did find this really challenging, particularly when the councillors had to be disciplined for poor behaviour or not abiding by the councillor code of conduct. As we have seen across the state, there have been ongoing issues.

Another key component that the bill seeks to amend in the Local Government Act 2020 is the removal of VCAT’s jurisdiction over councillor conduct panel decisions. The bill removes the ability of councillors who have been found to have committed serious misconduct from seeking a merit review of that decision at VCAT. As pointed out by the lead speaker, procedural fairness and this right have been taken away. We must have a fair and reasonable process that the councillors feel supported by, particularly when they are subject to a suspension.

The Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024 prevents a council from indemnifying a councillor against legal costs incurred to defend or be a party to an arbitration or councillor conduct panel. If an arbitrator or a councillor conduct panel makes an order granting leave to have legal representation, then the council will not be prevented from indemnifying a councillor. This change in legislation has divided those across the sector. Only 35 per cent of the sector support this change, while 38 per cent do not support this change and a further 15 per cent did not provide a definitive response to that change.

The bill expands the sanctions that may be imposed by an arbitrator on a finding of misconduct. As such the expansion of sanctions includes an arbitrator having the invested ability to prevent a councillor from attending and participating in a council meeting and suspending a councillor from office for a period of up to three months – currently an arbitrator can only suspend a councillor for a month. Lastly, an arbitrator will have the ability to direct a councillor to be ineligible to hold the office of mayor or deputy mayor for a period of up to 12 months. Further, an arbiter will also be able to specify a council meeting at which the tabling of the arbiter’s decision and statement of reasons must occur.

The Minister for Local Government is provided through the bill the ability to suspend a councillor for up to 12 months if the minister is satisfied on the advice they have received from either a monitor or a commission of inquiry that the councillor in question is creating a serious risk to the health and safety of the council or is preventing the council from performing its functions. The suspended councillor will also be ineligible to hold the office of mayor or deputy mayor or to chair a delegated committee of the council for the remainder of the term. In addition to these powers, the bill enables the Governor in Council to disqualify a person from standing at future elections on the recommendation of the minister. This can only occur and take place if the council the person was elected to was dismissed during their term and the minister is satisfied on receiving advice from a monitor or commission of inquiry that the councillor is creating a serious risk to the health and safety of the council or is preventing the council from performing its functions. Another oversight mechanism the bill introduces is providing the chief municipal inspector with the power to table reports in Parliament and brief the minister with responsibilities under the principal act and the Local Government Act 2020.

Finally, I support the reasoned amendment that has been put forward by the lead speaker. My hope is that the local government sector sees positive change and that those who put themselves forward to serve their community are well prepared and supported and better councillor conduct is an outcome.

Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (15:35): It is really important to rise and speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024 and follow the contributions of some of my colleagues. I will tend to reflect on some of these reforms and how important this journey has been over the last few years but particularly some of the elements that we saw in the recommendations from Operation Sandon and touch on a point that was made by the member for Geelong in summarising some of those concerns and issues as well around reputation damage that is done to community where we have impacts from various findings. This comes at an important time, on the edge of council elections. So many hundreds of candidates will front up with their thoughts, views and aspirations for how they will hopefully seek to change, enhance and support our communities and our municipalities in the future, from the 21 small rural regional councils to some of the bigger metropolitan councils – the City of Greater Dandenong and the City of Kingston – that we have had the privilege to interact with.

Acting Speaker, I give you a shout-out as a former mayor and councillor of the City of Greater Dandenong, which you proudly served and where you did an outstanding job, but we prefer you in here as the member for Clarinda. It is a really important reflection because some people also put forward themselves not knowing what the role might be in terms of the challenges and the governance. Effectively this is like a board of directors appointed to oversee a municipality or council. It comes with significant responsibilities and roles on behalf of their community, and for anyone that has seen some of the governance and work outcomes that our councillors across Victoria go and do, there is a significant amount of reading that they have got to be across and significant duties that they undertake. We need to make sure that we are empowering them and supporting them as best as we can to be the best representatives they can, and I think some of the reforms under the previous act, including the introduction of a range of things – longer term planning, asset management, councillor conduct and accountability and modernisation of election processes – went a long way to that.

But what we could not have anticipated was the significant and horrific behaviour that we saw during Operation Sandon. It literally defies logic some of the things that were put forward in evidence. It is hard to comprehend that anyone that is serving the interests of their community could find themselves at such greater odds in compromise that undermined our local government sector as a whole. For a range of councils that have gone into monitoring or have been dismissed it has a huge impact on the community members and residents in those local areas because they know that the council name that they have has gone through huge trauma and huge turmoil during that time.

We all relate to the area or municipality that we live in. We certainly do in Kingston. We talk about ourselves as being from Kingston or being from Greater Dandenong and have an attachment to that geographical location based on the name of our council, and it is a place of pride to say that. Our local councils in Greater Dandenong and Kingston do an outstanding job. Their council representatives and the officers that are involved each and every day in trying to shape our municipalities do an extraordinary job, and working with them each and every day it is a real privilege to see them in action. I have lived experience being the partner of a town planner who has been in local government most of her career and has a wonderful lived experience of a number of municipalities, and the overwhelming majority of interactions are really positive in local government as well.

Equally and importantly in these reforms we are strengthening the behaviour, accountability and training of our councillors but also their interactions with officers, and that is a really important frame. If their role as councillors is seen as a board of directors, then their interactions with officers and staff should be at the highest level of integrity and accountability. That is a big thing that we saw play out during Operation Sandon. We saw a deterioration of those standards. We saw a deterioration of how officers were respected and treated and rolled over the top of, and we need to make sure that some of these changes and some of those recommendations are strengthened.

That is why I am really, really interested in the development of the model councillor code of conduct, the consistency across the state – our 79 municipalities – and how that will be supported into the future. I think that is a really important thing. A lot of our councillors come with different experiences, time commitments and pressures that they face each and every day, but I think standards, training and professional development should always be consistent through that. I am really proud to see in this bill that recommendations 18, 20 and 28 – the provision of regular mandatory training for councillors, mayors and deputy mayors – are maintained and that professional development is upheld as well. We want to invest in the people who are putting themselves forward in the day-to-day service of the constituents in our communities and some really important services. Local government continues to evolve in its complexity and impact. We see a range of services and interactions in our local community when we think of aged care interactions at Kingston, when we think of disability support and care and when we think of early childhood – something that Kingston is substantially known for and has done a huge amount of investment in as well. The complexities and the work that goes in and what our councillors have to be across in decision-making mean that we have to front up and support them each and every day in that work as well.

We have got some wonderful representatives in our area, and I want to give a big shout-out to the leadership at the City of Kingston Cr Jenna Davey-Burns and Cr Tracey Davies. The first ever female leadership team of the 28 councils that we have had in the City of Kingston is a great representation of being able to see leadership in our community each and every day, and I think it is a wonderful reflection as well. In the City of Greater Dandenong we have Lana Formoso as the mayor, a wonderful leader fronting up each and every day in our community as well. In our area female leadership is seen, it is empowered and it is important, and we want to see more women on the ballot for this election and elected into local government. It is so important that we make it a safer and a more inclusive space. What we saw during some of the local government elections in 2020 – and it was a really difficult time with postal ballots, vulnerability in the community as well and some really difficult campaign circumstances – was it being really intimidating for candidates stepping up. Some of the reflections to the Victorian Electoral Commission and others in review talked about how women felt during the experience. We need to make sure that we are empowering people to feel safe to go forward for election and to be supported in their role and that it is a safe and inclusive workplace in local government. This is where some of the work we need to take on as well around effective dispute resolution, early intervention and good governance is really critical. We need to lift female representation; we have got to get towards that 50 per cent. I know that is a really passionate area of policy for the Minister for Local Government and the work that the electoral commission does and all municipalities in that work.

One thing that is also a change from 2020 leading into 2024 is the amount of opportunities that prospective candidates – and then candidates – get to really inform them of that role and that development. I think it is a really great snapshot of what you are getting into as well and what your expectations are and the roles and responsibilities. I think that gives you a good sense of where the roles will take you, but also that you have gone through that training means you can show that you have got that understanding.

It has been concerning to see certain political elements seeing local government as a way to lift their standing on a range of other issues rather than on local government issues themselves. It is an interesting time when we come forward to the council elections and that frame of responsibility and accountability is put forward. Certain elements in our community or certain political movements that are saying that this is an opportunity to drive certain agendas is a really concerning frame for us to be in. Local government should be about community. It should be about the roles and responsibilities that are put forward. Where you see issues or where you see political movements fronting up to say that they are going to take on local government as a way of lifting their stature rather than for the reasons that they are there – to serve their constituents – it is of concern. The changes in this bill and the accountability and then the oversight that comes with that I think provide that protection. It is absolutely free for people to step up for their community, but people will run into challenges if they are only pushing certain elements that are at odds with their community or certain elements that are at odds with their constituency. It is going to be really important to see how this plays out in practice. I think it is another great, important step in the reforms, and I am looking forward to how this will strengthen that accountability going forward.

To those prospective Kingston and Greater Dandenong council candidates – some are putting themselves forward right now – thank you for stepping up and bravely putting yourself forward on behalf of our communities. They are a tough slog, local government elections, but we appreciate you sharing your values and stepping up in our local area. We wish you the very best, and if you get elected, we look forward to working with you after 2024.

Jess WILSON (Kew) (15:45): I too rise to speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. I think what we have seen from the debate so far on this bill is broad agreement right across the chamber about the importance of accountability and governance when it comes to local government and seeking to provide greater integrity around the operation of local government and particularly the election and the responsibilities of local councillors. I think it is timely that we are debating this bill today as we lead up to the local government elections at the end of this year, when those candidates who are thinking of putting their name forward need to consider what their core responsibilities will be if elected to council, and what they take as part of their platform to those elections and what they choose to focus on will be critically important.

It is so important, I think, from all the contributions around the chamber today, to have effective and responsible local councils, and that has not always been the case. We have heard a history of issues when it comes to local councils and local government and the state government needing to step in to ensure there is greater governance and integrity around the operation of these local councils. Of course we have seen a very serious IBAC investigation, Operation Sandon, into some of the very issues that this bill seeks to address. The bill itself does seek to improve accountability, councillor conduct and governance issues right across all local councils in Victoria. From the outset, can I just thank my own local council, Boroondara council, for the very professional relationship that I have with them and the professional nature they take to delivering services in our own local community together with the local councillors.

The main purposes of the current reforms in this bill are, one, to provide for ongoing mandatory training for councillors and mayors. I speak to the process by which this bill seeks to provide greater detail as to what that training will require. Particularly the timeframe for taking on that training will require it to happen quite fast after local councillors and indeed mayors and deputy mayors are sworn in. It will be taken on quickly to ensure that those local councillors understand their responsibilities and understand the governance requirements when it comes to their roles, particularly for new local councillors and councillors that have been elected as mayors and deputy mayors to understand that greater responsibility that comes with those roles.

It, too, will improve the councillor conduct framework to clarify responsibilities of councillors and to provide greater certainty right across all councils here in Victoria as to what that code of conduct right across the board will look like. I note that the Municipal Association of Victoria has noted that while the uniform model will be useful in providing those standards right across the board, it is important also to take into account some of those more localised requirements that will be needed for councils in different areas of the state, whether they are rural or regional councils or metropolitan councils here in Melbourne.

Third, it will provide for the suspension and disqualification of individual councillors in certain circumstances. This is something that I will come back to in terms of the reasoned amendment that the member for Murray Plains has introduced on behalf of the coalition today. It will provide the minister with the ability to suspend a councillor for up to 12 months if they are satisfied that they received advice from the monitor or the commission that the councillor is creating a serious risk to the health and safety of the council and is not allowing the council to perform its functions. This goes to the very heart of the issue of making sure that local councillors understand what their core responsibilities are, which is incredibly important. The member for Mordialloc spoke previously about those core responsibilities and making sure that we are not seeing movements creeping into local councils and pushing political agendas that may be much more well suited to other levels of government – potentially state government but often federal government.

This is now the first major tranche of reforms to the Local Government Act since 2020. Unfortunately it does come in response to an increase in government interventions, such as the appointment of municipal monitors and administrators and the release of reports highlighting significant areas for improvement when it comes to council governance. As I said at the outset, it is making sure that these reforms are in place before local government elections and that the requirements under these new reforms are well understood as locals – residents right across the state – think about putting up their hand for local government election, so they actually understand the governance requirements and take on that integrity that is required to serve as a local councillor, to ensure that the goal is set high for a standard in this sector and to ensure that councillors really do understand their roles and responsibilities.

Before I turn to the reasoned amendment, I did just want to touch more broadly on the fact that there is a core business for local council. I spoke in my first speech in this place about the roles of the various levels of government and not trying to step beyond the role that you are elected in, whether that is here in the state Parliament speaking on federal government issues or indeed whether that is local councillors pushing political agendas at a local government level that really will have no impact on broader international issues as they might be but do distract and often take time away from the core responsibilities of those councillors and the council itself in delivering those core services.

We often talk about those core services at a local government level being around roads, rates and rubbish. Unfortunately we have seen in recent times a number of local councils actually focus more on international issues. I speak specifically of a number of motions that have been passed by local councils that have been incredibly one-sided when it comes to the conflict in the Middle East – anti-Israeli motions that call on local councils and local residents to boycott local businesses as well. That has had a significant impact on those local communities at a time when we should be promoting social cohesion in this state, at a time when we should be seeing our local representatives, whether at a council level or indeed here at a state level – and there have been a number of times in this place where we have seen certain members stand up and put forward agendas that are not the responsibility of the state government and, as I said, distract from those core responsibilities or distract from councils’ responsibilities when it comes to waste management and when it comes to providing those essential services around early learning support, early childhood support, kinder support and local infrastructure. But we instead see councils calling for the boycott of local businesses and putting forward very one-sided motions that are dividing the community and particularly having an impact on our Jewish community at a time when we are seeing antisemitism rise at a rate that we should be very concerned about in this state.

The member for Caulfield has spoken previously in this place about the importance of local government sticking to their wheelhouse and sticking to their knitting and put in question funding that then comes from the state government or the federal government to councils that choose to focus their time on these international matters rather than focusing on their core business. I call out the City of Yarra in particular, who have passed a number of motions that have very much focused on complex international affairs at the same time that they have been putting in place a waste levy, a ‘bin tax’, as we call it, and putting up that bin tax on ratepayers and refusing to clean the streets, refusing to actually ensure that the streets are safe when it comes to rubbish in terms of the local amenity and the environment – mowing the grass – not focusing on the core issues of rubbish, rates and roads but instead debating motions about a Middle Eastern conflict that unfortunately the City of Yarra, no matter how much they debate it, will have no impact upon.

I will come back to the bill before us and say that it does seek to put in place a framework around what those core responsibilities of our elected councillors are. I stress the importance for those Victorians who are thinking of putting their hand up for election at the local government elections later this year to consider how important it is to ratepayers to actually focus on the issues that matter to them and the services that local government can provide. The member for Murray Plains put forward a reasoned amendment, which I support, making sure that there is greater judicial oversight of some of the requirements in this bill to make sure that there is natural justice in place for councillors that are put in a situation where they may be suspended. But I say once again this is a bill that brings greater integrity to local government.

Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (15:55): I rise to speak in support of the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. Victorians rightfully expect their councils to be high functioning, efficient, transparent and accountable entities with an embedded core ethos of acting to the benefit of their communities. They expect their councils to govern with integrity, to behave appropriately and to put the community’s interests first and foremost. Unfortunately, this is not always borne out in practice. Time and again we are seeing some councils and councillors behave in ways and make decisions which undermine public trust. But it is not just trust that is impacted; the consequences of poor local council governance for residents, communities and businesses are serious, in some cases directly impacting lives and livelihoods. This is despite the advances we have made and the reforms we have been making to set a legislative setting for local councils, which is an ongoing and arduous process, given that this government was elected in 2014 and we were dealing with a very, very old act.

Back then we undertook to modernise the Local Government Act 1989, and in doing so we have put in place many more measures to deliver a robust and democratic local government sector, with clear standards and goals for the service of the community. Despite the reforms, we are still seeing some councils fraught with integrity, misconduct and accountability issues. Since the 2020 council elections 12 councils have had municipal monitors appointed. That includes Darebin council, which covers most of the district of Northcote. Darebin is now onto its second round of municipal monitors, having had one appointed in 2020 and another two appointed together this year. Statewide, 56 councillors have resigned, one council has been dismissed following a commission of inquiry and one has been suspended. IBAC’s Operation Sandon, the local government culture report and the Local Government Inspectorate’s examination into councils have also laid bare some serious concerns.

I need to pause just to make it absolutely clear that these issues are stemming from the top. They are not about the council library workers or the customer service personnel or the street cleaners or the gardeners or the aged care support workers and the like. We know these people work hard in the circumstances that are offered to them and that they are continually having to push back on council moves to outsource and privatise their labour to make up for their bottom line. No, what we are talking about here is the high-level decision-making which occurs at an executive level and at a councillor level. You need only to attend a public council meeting at one of these dysfunctional councils to know the extent of how far transparent and democratic processes have degenerated. It is no wonder that when the topic of local council is raised at a community level, on the street or in conversation, the overwhelming sentiments are exasperation, distrust, anger and disappointment.

This bill aims to make improvements to the act to support better council leadership and councillor conduct and to strengthen oversight and good governance. Seven of the recommendations from Operation Sandon are incorporated and will be implemented through these amendments, including the development of a model councillor code of conduct. There is provision for regulatory mandatory training for councillors, mayors and deputy mayors. To reflect the gravity of some of the misconduct we have seen, the amendments extend the maximum period an arbiter can suspend a councillor for misconduct from one month to three months. An arbiter will also be able to direct a councillor not to attend a council meeting and direct that a councillor is ineligible for the office of mayor or deputy mayor for up to 12 months. There are also powers to disqualify a person from standing at future council elections. These are strong measures which reflect the serious consequences to the community when misconduct occurs, and it cannot just be a slap on the wrist. The next round of local council elections is coming up in October, and it is fair to say that this is causing a bit of a stir in my inner-north community. There is a growing sense that things really need to change, because frankly it feels as though they have been broken for a while. As a member of Parliament, I am to a degree sympathetic to the difficult role that councillors and council executives have in navigating the competing priorities of a diverse community.

It is not an easy feat, and I appreciate that there will be differences of opinion at times. Some councillors are doing a fantastic job sticking up for their communities, and I wish the new candidates all the best in putting up their hands to serve their communities. Nevertheless there have been some major, major red flags in the inner north, and that is why we have had successive monitors appointed to Darebin council. The first monitor John Watson was appointed in 2022 in response to serious community concerns about governance and councillor conduct. Mr Watson’s final report outlined a raft of failings, including financial mismanagement, poor confidentiality procedures, lack of transparency, poor meeting procedures and the like. He also made the point that political and personal divisions between councillors were creating an environment of conflict and poor decision-making. Since then, I am afraid things have not much got much better. Two new monitors have been appointed this year following a series of extremely volatile public council meetings and many community complaints about dubious decision-making.

I have spoken before in this chamber about my extreme disappointment in Darebin council on a number of important community issues. Not least of these was the disastrous parking strategy which then mayor Susan Rennie tried to unilaterally impose on the community. The policy she championed was effectively aimed at getting cars out of Darebin by shaming and penalising car owners, with zero regard for the practicalities of their lives. So strong was the backlash from the community over this ill-thought-out and surprise policy that residents from all walks of life joined in opposing it, with over 8500 signatures, placards on fences, questions at council meetings, emails and more. I myself wrote to the mayor to outline the many ways this hardline policy was harmful. It was a completely distressing situation until the Greens-controlled council had to back down under the pressure and abandon the policy. Some may call this democracy in action, and to the extent that the community galvanised to change the outcome there is some merit to that. But these fights are not without cost. Residents feel the impact and the weight of them. They feel aggrieved and disrespected, and they feel hoodwinked by processes that are very good at keeping them out, silencing and disempowering them. It is the formula of springing a new policy on the community with far-reaching consequences; providing very limited opportunity for residents to understand, let alone provide feedback; and then pushing ahead. In Darebin these fights seem all too common.

Just last year the community was outraged as Darebin council moved to cut its 18 not-for-profit early learning centre leases to a mere two years and burden them with hiked-up fees. The kinder community put in an enormous effort to shift this after the Greens councillors and Cr Rennie originally voted to strip centres of long-term security. A short while before that, the thriving business innovation precinct in Wingrove Street, Alphington, came to an abrupt and ruthless end under order of Darebin. Dozens of businesses have been booted from the site, and Darebin are still not being up-front with the community about what they intend to do with this sensitive and valuable riverfront land.

In more seriously misguided logic and Greens posturing, Darebin has also put roadblock after roadblock in the way of critical social housing projects, projects that our community needs to give more people the dignity of a safe and secure home – and we know the member for Richmond’s track record of voting against social housing in Yarra while she was mayor. In terms of Yarra, which covers South Alphington in my electorate, all I will say is that a repeatedly raised topic of conversation in the residents groups is their aspiration to get a boundary change so that they can become part of Banyule instead of Yarra, and I think that says it all.

Back in Northcote locals have also been appalled by the disregard Greens-aligned councillors have shown to local sport across the years, and there is genuine anger about the upkeep of facilities, deliberate scuttling of government-funded projects and attempts to repurpose sportsgrounds into passive spaces. Many times I have called on our councils to see the value of sport in our suburbs and the connection and wellbeing our clubs bring. It is disappointing that even when opportunities are offered to council they whittle away funds and delay projects. These are just a few examples of what my community has had to bear the burden of over the years.

In other cases residents have reported to me serious instances of bullying, racism, undisclosed conflicts of interest and bias. We have heard of disinformation and defamation. We have also heard of arbitrary and contradictory rulings and the abuse of the mayoral role to silence dissent. What I have observed from the outside is that the political motivations and aspirations of councillors from minor parties in particular, who tend to use councils as their profile-building platform, all too often mean that they overstep and put their own interests and ambitions above the community. That is when we tend to see time wasting on matters which are not really relevant to local council. We see dysfunction and delays and we see animosity and abuses of power, and all the while the genuine needs of locals are left by the wayside.

The consequences of this kind of poor governance and behaviour are far reaching; they impact people’s lives and the prosperity of our suburbs. Councils wield an extraordinary amount of power to determine the direction, priorities, services and funding outcomes of the suburbs that they represent. They employ hundreds of staff, manage very large budgets which include revenue derived from resident rates, determine local laws and hold much of the decision-making power when it comes to projects going forward or not. They impact on the day-to-day lives of Victorians. Whether that is the state of the footpath on your street or the availability of a not-for-profit kinder place for your child or being able to book in-home aged care support for your ageing parent, councils need to be held accountable for their actions and to be transparent in their decisions. Community interest must come first.

Jade BENHAM (Mildura) (16:05): I am happy to rise to speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024 concerning governance and integrity, and it is an area that hopefully I know a thing or two about. Like many others in this place, I was a councillor –

A member interjected.

Jade BENHAM: I know – a councillor and a mayor, heaven forbid. I did take great interest when the member for Bentleigh was talking about being elected to his local council, Glen Eira, I think it was, at the age of 19. The last thing on my mind I think was local government at the age of 19. I had a few other things on my mind, I think –

A member interjected.

Jade BENHAM: We do not need to worry about ‘like what’. But it is amazing to think that there are young people – and I have been speaking over the last few months with young people – that are really considering running in this year’s local government elections. It is fantastic to see young people so engaged and happy to work for their communities.

The Leader of the Nationals, obviously, has introduced a reasoned amendment, which I will get to a little bit further down the track, but he made some good points during his contribution. I will speak based on the knowledge that I know intimately, which is rural and regional councils. Councils, I think, in the regions sometimes feel as though their roles can be decorative and they are very much led by officers or by CEOs. That was never the case when I was a councillor, but it has been the feedback of some when they try to have a say on things or question certain things, particularly in relation to budgets or modelling and how they have arrived at different models and the different differential rates, particularly in the agriculture sector and paying special interest to the difference between solar farms, for example, as opposed to broadacre farming, as opposed to irrigated horticulture. I know some councillors have had quite a bit of difficulty drilling down into the technicalities and the specifics of those.

Other councillors, like the Leader of the Nationals said earlier, have an abundance of experience, particularly in engineering. A lot of these have come from the private sector with their level of expertise. It might be water run-off on the sides of roads that are dirt connector roads or just gravel roads. They give advice on things they know they have done themselves, on how to alleviate the pressure that comes after heavy rains – and we have not had a heavy rain this autumn; we are desperate for some in the north-west of the state, so if everyone could send their thoughts and prayers to the north-west for some rain, that would be greatly appreciated. But they also feel like they do not get to have their say with regard to those sorts of operational things, and that is what the Leader of the Nationals, the member for Murray Plains, was getting at. They do not feel like they can have as much say as they should have given that they are elected representatives and that sort of experience and that sort of lived experience and professional experience is largely why they were elected there in the first place.

While we talk about governance and integrity, we have heard some horror stories in some contributions today. In fact the member for Shepparton was talking about Moira Shire Council and what happened there. Locally, I have four different councils in my electorate, given the large geographic area, and there is a monitor at Buloke. But that is largely I think because the sustainability of these rural councils is really under fire. They are not sustainable the way that they are structured. With such huge geographic areas and a low ratepayer base it becomes really hard to provide roads, rates and rubbish. To provide those services becomes really hard under a rate-capping environment with extra waste levies and things like that, so monitors are often needed. But as far as integrity of councillors goes, I have experienced some bad behaviour and disrespect, as I am sure anyone has in that. It gets heated, people have differing views and all of that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, elected representative to elected representative for the most part is fantastic. Sometimes I think maybe politics gets in the way, which it should not. We should maintain professional relationships. Regardless of all of that, we are there for the same reason, to work for our community. When you turn up to a public event, an acknowledgement that your local, federal and state politicians are there is nice and probably noted. The public do not appreciate it when those sorts of petty things creep in.

In other instances with my former experience on council there was mansplaining, I suppose, which is interesting, but that is as far as that went. A lot of the disrespect – we have heard lots of talk about respect amongst councillors and colleagues and outside of that, which is what this will extend to – I hate saying it, largely came from other female councillors for most of the time. Hopefully this governance and integrity bill and the amendment to the Local Government Act 2020 will help to address that, but it is largely something that I did not experience. I know that there are councillors that will breach the code from time to time and show disrespect to fellow councillors, and I know there are a couple of mayors at the moment that are having an interesting time with managing the behaviour of some councillors. It is always going to be a challenge.

When we talk about training, the training that I had to go through was minimal. I had a little bit of knowledge of what I was getting myself into – otherwise why would you put your hand up? But the Leader of the Nationals made a good point earlier that you can be RPLed if you are doing a cert III or a cert IV. For any prior experience you get that recognition of prior learning. Maybe the training does need to be a bit more flexible. When there are changes in legislation like we are seeing here or a brand new act like the Local Government Act 2020, then yes, it needs to be very comprehensive and cover everything. If a councillor has been there for 20 years, should they run again? I do not know. But there needs to be a bit more flexibility in the needs, and for someone that is perhaps younger and less experienced, maybe that needs to be more involved and more comprehensive with regard to appropriate behaviour. I have heard a couple of comments that have been made throughout contributions this afternoon that some bad behaviour has not been recognised by some councillors to be unacceptable. That is a larger society problem, I think. There is a real issue there if they do not recognise that bad behaviour is bad behaviour, and that should not be accepted on any level, I think. The reasoned amendment that the Leader of the Nationals put forward is that:

… this bill be withdrawn and redrafted to provide procedural fairness by way of an appropriate appeal mechanism for councillors subject to suspension.

The training also probably needs to be considered and a lot more flexibility allowed with that.

The four local governments that are in the Mildura electorate are Yarriambiack, Buloke, Mildura and the Swan Hill Rural City Council. We all have a great working relationship. The mayors and councillors all seem to work. I do not know about internal workings, but when addressing me it is all very respectful, and I am very grateful for that. Having said that, we do get the odd call or email to the office about council. This is the thing, though: when it comes to cost shifting, the state government often will shift to local government and local government will get the blame. The waste levy comes to mind straightaway. Obviously that is something that will come across my desk and I am happy to chat to people about it. But also if it is planning issues that council have resolved not in their favour, I do always say, ‘There are council elections coming up this year,’ and I urge everyone to get involved and be engaged with what is going on at all levels of government. Then you will know because, whether it is directly or indirectly, all levels of government affect our daily lives, and I would encourage everyone coming up to the 2024 local government elections to give it due consideration. Things are a lot easier now with Teams, Zoom meetings and things like that. There is far less travel in those rural areas, so I would encourage everyone to give it some thought.

Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (16:15): I rise to speak to the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. It has been a great contribution from many members today, and I have enjoyed listening to that, and I will speak a little bit about my experiences as well and this bill. This bill does aim to enhance accountability, councillor conduct and governance in the local government sector, and we know – many have spoken about it today – that effective government is essential for councils to make good decisions and provide the services that their communities need. It has been raised that since our last council elections in 2020 we have seen a notable rise in governance issues. Interventions have been needed with numerous councils and 11 councils have required municipal monitors, a significant increase from just four in the last term. This was really to ensure that proper governance. One council was even dismissed following a commissioned inquiry and another one suspended.

In the Geelong region we are no strangers to administrators and monitors, unfortunately, and I will speak a little bit later about that. During this period the IBAC Operation Sandon Special Report was released. It examined various councils, and investigations highlighted there was some need for improvement in our local council governance. This bill is actually to address some of those needs and is a starting point.

When this government was elected in 2014, we made a commitment to amend the Local Government Act 1989, and it was an ambitious plan with some comprehensive reforms – for 30 years we had not had this sort of reform. Since then we have seen how legislation has reshaped that sector. We have highlighted the importance of long-term planning; increased council and councillors’ accountability, with a clearer standard of behaviour; and modernised the election process and transparency around council decisions and better financial management. However, some of the act’s reforms highlighted that we still have some further work to do, and so this is another part of reforming in respect to cultural governance and accountability.

This bill is aiming at strengthening that council leadership – the capabilities of our councillors and mayors and deputy mayors – and will do that by developing a model councillor code of conduct and provisions for mandatory regulatory training for mayors and deputy mayors and extending the maximum period of suspension from one month to three months, which an arbiter may direct following a finding of misconduct. If we do not address these issues, these issues can obviously undermine public trust in the sector. They hinder decision-making, they impede the delivery of essential services and they cause what I would probably call a paralysis of council from good governance – which, interestingly, is raised by constituents to me directly on a regular basis. The lack of trust in our councils in my communities is raised with me in conversation, and constituents will also come to me in official correspondence to the office for follow-up or for assistance. They raise issues around decision-making, lack of expertise and engagement and I suppose the minimal or lack of communication that is felt by the community from the council.

I have made a deep commitment, having this role in this place, to having the community be part of the decision-making process and having a really high level of engagement in the community on state issues. I want to work and have demonstrated working collaboratively with the community to get the best outcomes with them. I want to work with all stakeholders as well to ensure that projects are delivered in a timely manner. I have openly discussed issues with the two councils that I have in my electorate, which are the City of Greater Geelong and the Borough of Queenscliffe. I have spoken to them openly about having a really respectful and collaborative relationship, one that can deliver really great outcomes for our communities. That is what I am interested in doing. I have regular catch-ups and meetings with the mayors and the CEOs of both the council and the borough. I keep communication open with them, and we discuss many concerns that come our way.

We have, though, many state projects in the Bellarine that are either jointly funded or fully funded by the state government where we need to work closely with our local councils. We are delivering so much on the Bellarine. I just want to highlight a few of those. The Drysdale sports precinct, stage 2; St Leonards cricket nets and skate park; Leopold Tennis Club redevelopment; and Portarlington Recreation Reserve. There are many projects that we need as a state government to work closely with our councils on and have trust that the councils are able to deliver, because they are primarily delivered by local councils. Yet historically, even before my time in this place, the trust particularly in the City of Greater Geelong had completely dwindled. In fact the minister at the time, who was amending the City of Greater Geelong Act 1993, stated that:

In April 2016, the previous council was dismissed by the Parliament of Victoria in response to the findings and recommendations of the independent commission of inquiry … The commission of inquiry concluded that the council had failed to provide good government to the people of Greater Geelong, the leadership of the council was dysfunctional and riven by conflict and there was a deep-seated culture of bullying within the council and its administration. The commission also found a range of organisational failures had contributed to the breakdown of good governance at the council, including a failure by council to provide a safe workplace for its employees.

In January last year the now Minister for Local Government announced monitors for the City of Greater Geelong, and this decision was made in response to advice from both Local Government Victoria and the chief municipal inspector. The inspector had recommended the minister exercise her powers under the Local Government Act 2020 in relation to the employment of a CEO. This investigation focused on integrity and transparency. After their tender at the council, the monitor’s final report, which actually is publicly available, did outline some problems. We had some problems around budget, complaints between councillors, potential conflicts of interest and claims of harassment and bullying. I mean, it is simply not good enough, and the report shows that more needs to be done. Therefore we have added additional time whereby those monitors will now stay until the end of the year, till after the next local government elections for the City of Greater Geelong.

This bill is so important to addressing these types of concerns that have been raised, which the community rightly want action on. Residents and ratepayers deserve councils that represent their needs and their aspirations and councils that deliver on their responsibilities. We know councils play a vital role in our communities across various services, and it is imperative that they have a really positive and workable culture with their community. Going into the election later this year, I really want to see community-minded candidates put up their hand so that they are able, if elected, to go into a workplace that is respectful, professional, accountable and supportive, and this training will be able to assist them in that.

In conclusion, I think I have highlighted really the importance that councillors have and their role in their communities as elected representatives. Their decision-making, their behaviour, impact ratepayers and their communities in their everyday lives. Councils – and borough, in my instance – play a crucial role in providing those essential services and representing the community’s interests. Factors that influence that trust – such as transparency, responsiveness, community engagement and effectiveness of delivery – are all important, and the behaviours particularly of our mayors and councillors as elected leaders do really go to the heart of whether the community has trust in the councils’ abilities. While there are challenges – we understand that – this bill and our ongoing efforts as a government to improve these aspects will only help the trust in the community in local government. I commend this bill to the house.

Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (16:25): I rise to speak on behalf of the Greens to the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. This is a bill that makes a number of changes to the Local Government Act 2020 and related legislation with the aim of strengthening accountability of individual councillor conduct, improving early intervention and effective dispute resolution and introducing what have been described as oversight mechanisms.

I really want to flag from the outset that the Greens have significant concerns about many of the provisions being put forward in this bill today, and I will circulate some amendments that go to those concerns a bit later on in my contribution. Our concerns really have been compounded by the number of very political contributions that have been made by members in this place making some very political criticisms of a number of councils. Yet before us we have got a bill that puts more power in the hands of the minister to dismiss individual councillors. Whilst the government is making changes with the proposed reforms after consultation with the sector, the consultation highlighted that the sector remains concerned with some of the more controversial proposals, which I note have been retained in the bill before us. Hopefully councils will have a good library book policy too – we saw what some councils did in New South Wales – so for members who are looking to slag off particular political parties, I would say you are probably treading on dangerous territory there. We have heard that the consultation period was inadequate and that the sector is concerned about the limited opportunities there will be for engagement on the regulations required to support this legislation that are yet to be developed before the October elections. It is so important that we get local government reforms right, especially as they relate to governance and integrity.

As I have said in this chamber a number of times before, the Greens are strong supporters of the local government sector and what they do in our communities. They work across a really wide range of community issues, providing a range of critical services – of local infrastructure and of advocacy. I remember my own, albeit short, two-year period on the Stonnington council. You looked at those very granular issues. There were the planning applications – some non-controversial, many controversial – and the range of issues that constituents and members of the public would raise with you, often about cleanliness or rubbish on the streets, but there were also some of those really big-vision issues for councillors about what people really wanted to see in their community, and really there was a very strong necessity to have advocacy and a relationship with the state government. Look, sometimes – and there are examples right now, particularly with certain projects – they do work well with the government, but there are other times when the state government just ignores councils – does not engage with their knowledge and does not engage with the community.

The legislation before us has been pitched as something that will improve the functioning of local government. As the short title of the bill suggests, there have been a number of investigations in recent years that have necessitated reforms to improve governance and integrity in the local government sector. As I said, the bill purports to respond to government integrity issues, but it is silent on other support for councillors, like security at council meetings and measures to deal with corruption. The councillor code of conduct and training do not even dissuade individuals from engaging in corrupt conduct. If you look at the release of the IBAC report, it demonstrates the need for integrity measures such as applying the state’s donations cap laws to local government and banning political donations from the property industry or other high-risk groups such as the gambling industry.

The Greens have been calling for those reforms for a long time. I stood here five years ago calling for those reforms to be in place. You have got a bill purporting to focus on integrity and local government, but it does not do anything on corruption. As recently as 2022 my colleague in the other place Samantha Ratnam sought to introduce political donations reform to the Local Government Act, but once again we do not see those reforms in this bill. So I want to flag that the Greens will be introducing further amendments in the other place to enable some of those long-needed integrity reforms, looking at setting up a donations cap on the amount local government candidates can receive from a donor and real-time reporting requirements for these donations that is consistent with how state governments operate under the Electoral Act 2002.

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. We appreciate that individual councillors can cause issues for staff and other councillors, and I have witnessed even in public meetings some really appalling behaviour by individual councillors. We appreciate that the existing processes to deal with these are slow, but we do not necessarily agree that the solution is to give all these decision-making rights to the minister. This undermines the sector, challenges democratic principles and just really shows the real lack of respect that the government has for local government. Under this provision there is no requirement for a judicial process, there is limited independent oversight – only a recommendation from a monitor or commission of inquiry for a minister to exercise these powers – and there are only limited natural justice provisions. Given not every council with a problematic councillor has a monitor installed or a commission of inquiry underway, this power does not really address the concerns that many have raised about ensuring a swifter resolution.

The risk of politicisation, real or perceived, is very significant. As I said, we have had members line up during this debate and just layer very political attacks on other councils. I have had political attacks and interjections from other members while I have given this speech, and now you are all saying, ‘Oh, well, we want to give this power directly to the minister.’ Well, this is ripe for abuse, ripe for politicisation, and the local government sector should be incredibly concerned.

Iwan Walters interjected.

Sam HIBBINS: Just keep digging the hole there. The member is undermining the very bill being put forward. Coupled with the fact that this potentially reduces rights to legal support and appeal through VCAT, it is very concerning how this power might be misused by either a current or future minister. I can appreciate the logic that the state government may wish to streamline outcomes and prevent repeated prosecution of cases by removing the right of VCAT appeals, but it is concerning that the only recourse would be a court appeal. I will circulate amendments in my name.

Amendments circulated under standing orders.

Sam HIBBINS: These amendments will seek to remove the provisions in the bill relating to clauses regarding ministerial powers and the loss of VCAT appeal rights from the bill.

I also want to touch on the issue of indemnification. Changes in the legislation before us would mean that councillors are not automatically indemnified for internal arbitration processes or councillor conduct panel hearings. This had low support in the sector, and we have heard from many councillors who are concerned about what this may mean for them. For example, it is concerning that this change could disadvantage councillors with less means or advantages than those who are better resourced, especially in the early preapplication phases, when councillors may want to seek advice about their options. It also runs the risk of deterring people from making complaints or undertaking certain actions in performance of their council duties due to fear about legal exposure. There may be reasonable steps that the government could take to ensure that councillors do not repeatedly prosecute cases when adverse findings have been made against them, but we do not believe that the disadvantage that a lack of indemnification would mean for many councillors justifies the complete removal of this legal access. The amendments that I have circulated will also omit these and related provisions from the bill. As it stands, the Greens cannot support this bill. It is rushed. It fails in its stated aim to improve integrity and in fact undermines democracy.

Colin BROOKS (Bundoora – Minister for Development Victoria, Minister for Precincts, Minister for Creative Industries) (16:35): I want to make a relatively brief contribution to this bill, because a number of speakers have already gone through the detail, and despite the comments of some of those opposite, this bill is one that has broad support in the sector. That is from a consultation paper that was produced by the sector. I think that is a good thing that shows that the sector itself is up for positive reform in this space.

I want to start this contribution, before I come back to the bill itself, by commending the many good people who serve in local government, both council officers and also elected councillors. There are many people in this chamber who have served on local government and would know the rigours of local government and the contribution that good people make to their local communities through that particular level of government. Effectively that is what it is all about; it is all about the contribution that people can make to better their local communities and to reflect the community’s aspirations in a local sense. In many respects local government, as a sector of government that is close to the people, is often able to respond very quickly to the aspirations of its communities – quicker than other levels of government can sometimes. I commend those people, and with elections coming up I also commend people who are thinking of putting their hand up for local government. We as a state, regardless of our political views, need good people to put their hands up and run and serve their local communities. For the people who run, if they have at their heart the interests of their communities foremost in their time in local government, then I think we are all served well by their contribution, as I said, regardless of their political views.

The bill itself provides for training for councillors. There are provisions in the bill in relation to the suspension and disqualification of individual councillors who have done the wrong thing. It increases the powers of the chief municipal inspector, and some of the recommendations flow from the IBAC report of Operation Sandon. I understand 12 of those recommendations are picked up in this bill. As I mentioned in the earlier part of my contribution, a consultation paper back in January was distributed. It was pleasing to see the really mature way the local government sector responded to that and has worked with the government and obviously with the broader Parliament to bring through some of the reforms, which is a positive thing.

I think bills like this, though, are a sign that there is an accountability gap in local government, unfortunately, for the small number of people who do not behave well or do the right thing. From my time many years ago on local government to now I think one of the biggest changes that goes to the need for some of these sorts of changes we are seeing in this bill is actually the absence now in many areas of local newspapers and local media. It is a well-publicised problem. There have been federal parliamentary inquiries into this matter, based on the contraction of the local newspaper industry across not just Victoria but the country. That is a particular problem for rural communities, which obviously rely on local newspapers for information, but also for metropolitan communities like mine who use local newspapers as a source of much-needed information about what is going on in their local area. I remember on council in the council chamber every time there was a council meeting there would be a journalist from the local paper. At that stage it was usually the Diamond Valley Leader or the Heidelberg Leader, or before that the Heidelberger and the Diamond Valley News. When you were making decisions and talking to those decisions you were always reflecting on the fact that your decisions, what you said, would be broadcast through the local paper the next week right throughout your local community.

Despite the fact I think – I hope – that I would have made the same decisions anyway, it was certainly a measure of accountability to know that your residents would be casting their eye over what you said and what you did. It is a healthy thing for democracy, and it is a great loss that we do not have that – in my area anyway – at the moment. We do not have that local newspaper that is published every week and delivered into people’s letterboxes so that people understand exactly what is going on. I did not always agree with the reporting of the local paper; sometimes I got a bit of a slightly negative review. But overwhelmingly, when you look back, you see the value of having that newspaper there reporting on what was going on.

The other thing with local papers is that it is different to online dissemination of information about local affairs these days. There is a lot of information on social media groups around things happening in the local area, but it is often unregulated. It is not filtered by a trained journalist who is able to sort out the facts sometimes from the fiction, so there is not that really reliable source of information for people to rely on. I remember reflecting that not everyone used to pick up the local paper out of their letterbox and go straight for the local news section to see what was happening at the local council; sometimes people would go to the sports section to see what the local footy club results were or the district cricket or the netball, but they would inevitably also have a look at the front pages of some of the news as well.

A member interjected.

Colin BROOKS: Yes, letters to the editor. I am sure the member opposite would have written a few letters to the editor in his day – or was the subject of them. But also local tradespeople – people would often like to be able to connect with someone who was advertising as a plumber or something like that in their local newspaper. But again, it was another reason for them to pick up the paper and then get through there – or electricians are obviously the better of the trades.

The other thing that I just wanted to say was that local newspapers provided a great training ground for journalists, when they came out of their training, to cut their teeth on local stories. I remember over the journey having lots of interactions with great journalists, some of whom have gone on to do really good things in some of our major media outlets. I think that is a key part of what is missing from the accountability mechanisms at the moment. It is something that is hard for governments of any level to address, because you do not necessarily want governments disseminating information or having a role in that particular place. There may be, I was thinking, a role for the ABC in the future in terms of more localised news. At the moment it seems the ABC is contracting and not heading in that direction, but I think in this day and age they have a role possibly in supporting that granular local news dissemination so that people have that access as a public service to reliable information in communities. Rural communities would be a great place to start. I think rural communities in particular would really need that news service, but also in metro areas, as I think it is really quite an important part of this.

This bill, though, does a great job in terms of improving the standards. It is another tranche of reforms to local government, which I think is really important. This government has been very strong in terms of improving the accountability and integrity of local government, and I commend the bill to the house.

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (16:43): I rise to talk on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. It was fantastic to hear the minister at the table speaking the virtues of plumbers that are involved in their local community, and I think he hit the nail right on the head that we are a fantastic breed of people that can move through political life. I must say that I have never been involved in a council. I have never been elected to a council. I have never been a mayor as such. The closest I have got has been having to do roles for the council as that forementioned plumber. One of the good things about that is that I did get access to all councillors, mayors, deputy mayors and also people that work for the council, so I used to get a broad-reaching range of ideas and used to get the behind-the-scenes synopsis of what certain people were like.

In saying that, you got an overview that, yes, most councillors are really good and do a fantastic job, but sometimes you do get some people that push the boundaries. The reason I think they push the boundaries is that they are pushing their own agenda for themselves. That happens right through every walk of life. This is a bill that can actually change that and give a point where there can be some help to councils and especially mayors. We heard from other people that have been in that situation where it falls on their head to actually resolve disputes if they are the mayor. That is really hard because sometimes you are dealing with councillors that you actually need to vote for you to be mayor, so it puts a lot of pressure on that. Things we can do to take that off the table for council are very good things.

This bill aims to address the issues of accountability, conduct and governance within the local government sector, emphasising the necessity to enhance good governance for councils to make informed decisions and effectively deliver services to their communities. That is their role and that is what we want them to do. A lot of people go in with their eyes shut, and for them to be able to be educated not only when they become a councillor but also in the lead-up to standing for those council elections – and I note, as most have, that the council elections are coming up later this year – so that they have a bit of an education and an insight into what the role is going to be and so they know what the rules are and do not overstep those rules, that is part of an education rather than being thrown in there blind and saying, ‘How does this work?’

When I am walking down the street, people will come and pull me up for a bit of a chat, and obviously sometimes the talk gets back to the actual council. My council is Latrobe City Council. People of all walks of life do have grievances with their council, whether it be that their rates are too high or they do not think the council is actually listening to them or whether it be, if they have got a tree that is growing over the neighbour’s fence, to resolve disputes. They certainly cause a divide within the community, and I think that that would probably be right through every council that is around Victoria. Some people just are not happy, and no matter what you do you are not going to make them happy. But one of the things that have happened in our council is that we have had to go to closed community hearings when they have their council meetings on a Monday night. One of those things is the security of the actual councillors; they have been feeling a little vulnerable in the community. Social media has played a big part in that, with backlash against certain councillors and against the Latrobe City Council. It is a real worry that that can happen. To make it safer, council had to have closed sessions, which riled the community and justifiably so. It is a public forum, and you want to be able to go into the council and sit down and listen and see how good governance works.

We have it here, and a few times even in here we have had to leave the chamber because people have done wrong thing. We have had people with different agendas come into this chamber, and we have actually had to have the Speaker stand up and tell us to clear the chamber for our own safety. So if they are doing that here and they are doing it at a local level, you wonder what is next. Will they do it at a school council meeting if they see the way it goes? So we do have to be strong and have those options whereby we can actually discipline certain people that are doing the wrong thing in councils, or it actually might be that they are doing the wrong thing inside their state Parliament. We need to be strong enough as a group to be able to call that out as we move through.

A person might be sitting at home somewhere tonight in the state of Victoria thinking that they are going to put their hand up to run for council, because if you are not a councillor you are very parochial about what you want and ideas that you think need to happen for your town. That education that we are talking about for when they step into the role is about trying to make them see the overview of how the actual council works, working for different people that may not be in your town and providing that transparency about who is actually running so people that actually get to vote for people that are running for council have a bit of an idea of what their background is. It does not have to be the ins and outs of everything, but have they got an agenda? Are they in bed with an organisation that is going to make running the day-to-day stuff of the council harder to do because their agenda is to go in and cause grief? I think as the general public we should be able to see who is actually running to represent us in a council.

Our council, Latrobe city, work really hard. I attend a lot of functions, as everyone would here, and there is always the mayor or the deputy mayor or a councillor there. They spend a lot of their own time coming to these functions, providing input to the community and championing the Latrobe City Council and our region to be able to attract festivals and also sporting events to come and be set up down in the Latrobe Valley. They do a power of work, and then it falls to the umbrella underneath the council. Everyone thinks that the Latrobe City Council are just the councillors, but we do have our CEOs and all the workers under them, even the day-to-day people that are doing the work cutting the lawns and keeping the gardens running. The Latrobe City Council are one of the biggest employers in our community, providing the security of a job for people to be able to take out their house loan and put food on the table at the end of the day as they go through.

One of the biggest things – I am running out of time here – that we did have was councils coming together when the Commonwealth Games were cancelled, and the one thing that we are all on the same page about is trying to get a fair share of compensation into the community. That has also caused a little bit of grief down there with the stakeholders, because when it first came out, compensation was just going to go to designated event holders, but now there is talk down there that maybe it should be put into a pool and spread across the municipality to let everyone get a little bit of work done as we go through. It is a big role for the councillors to actually have to put their hands up and try and work out what is going on there – what is right for our region. It is not an easy job for them. Anyone that is putting their hand up I encourage in the upcoming elections to do their due diligence. Can you be an asset to the Latrobe city if you are running for a councillor position?

Just in closing, I know that the Leader of the Nats did put in an amendment. I strongly encourage the government to read and have a look at that. I support our local council.

Dylan WIGHT (Tarneit) (16:54): It gives me great pleasure this afternoon to rise and speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. I have had the pleasure this afternoon of listening to a few contributions, some from those opposite, some from the crossbench up at the top. The member for Morwell did a great job just then. But I thought I would just touch on a couple of the contributions that I have heard this afternoon. An hour or so ago the member for Kew spoke about the role of local government and spoke about the separation of responsibilities between local, state and federal governments and used some examples of local governments speaking and using their platform on social issues. Respectfully, I think the member for Kew and I will probably disagree on not so much the right but the capacity of elected officials to have an opinion and to use their platform to voice an opinion on broader social issues. I think we see it happen at every level of government. We see it happen in here, and indeed there are members of the Liberal Party room who do that – absolutely there are – and there are members of our caucus that also do so.

The member for Kew would not be aware of this, but if she would like to look at a really clean example of a councillor speaking on and doing things far outside the scope of the brief of a councillor or local government official, she need look no further than down in my patch, in Wyndham. I understand the member for Kew would not be across this, but if she were to come down to Wyndham, she would find a majority of fantastic councillors that are there for the right reasons, that are working hard for their community, that are all about rates, roads and rubbish and that are working tirelessly every day. But then you will find some that are, frankly, dead weight.

One in particular, who I will not describe as dead weight, is so far from concentrating on rates, roads, rubbish or her constituents it is not funny. In fact the funny thing about that is that particular councillor was a Liberal candidate in the state election that has just gone. She ran in Werribee – quite unsuccessfully. From what I have experienced about this particular councillor, her mind is so far from rates, roads and rubbish that it is not funny. She spends most of her time potting the state government for literally anything, both on social media and in local media. She spends a disproportionate amount of her evenings, from what I can tell, trolling Labor candidates and Labor members on social media. I am not quite sure why you would spend your evenings doing that. I have got better things to do: I hang out with my kids, maybe go to the gym, maybe watch the news. I do not scroll my way through social media looking for people to have a crack at. It was a Liberal candidate. Her campaign did not start off in the greatest fashion when her first DL spoke about the fact that she had delivered X and Y for the people of Werribee – and it said ‘X and Y’. That is what it said. They clearly did not proofread the DL, so there is 11 grand down the tube. The campaign started like a house on fire, and I tell you what, it did not end up much better when she lost with a 10 per cent margin.

But anyway, maybe we will get to the substantive part of the bill. I think it goes to the heart of this bill. These changes are designed to make sure that we have the absolute best people representing local residents at a local government level. That is what these changes go to. I can tell you what, there are some councillors in Wyndham who will do really, really well with the training that is provided within this legislation.

The bill will amend the Local Government Act 2020, the LGA – not to be confused with local government area – in time for the Victorian local government general elections in October this year, elections that I know we are all incredibly excited about. I know that we have all got that date locked in our diary. Those local government elections are incredibly important for the delivery of critical services right here in Victoria. IBAC’s Operation Sandon, the special report that came out of that operation, made a number of recommendations to improve council governance, which the government has accepted in principle. Seven of these recommendations are to be implemented through this bill. As I said, we want those representing Victorian residents at a local level to be as qualified and as trained as they can possibly be. What we will do through this piece of legislation is develop a modal councillor code of conduct – that goes to recommendations 17, 21 and 33. There will also be a provision of regular mandatory training for councillors, mayors and deputy mayors, which goes to recommendations 18, 20 and 28. We will also be extending the minimum period of suspension from one month to three months, which an arbiter may direct following a finding of misconduct.

As I was listening to the member for Prahan’s contribution earlier he expressed some concerns about the powers that would be given to the minister in respect of being able to suspend councillors. He sat up there and spoke to us and told us how good a job all the Greens councillors across the inner city LGAs in Melbourne are doing; he expressed his concern for his friends in the Greens political party and their councillors in respect of these ministerial powers. I completely understand what he is saying. I mean, who would we have to stand in the way of social housing development if we did not have Greens councillors? I completely understand his concern.

Other government initiatives, including the local government culture project, have also highlighted areas which need improvements. Victorians rightfully expect high governance and integrity standards from their councils. They expect to be represented by people that are qualified and trained, and I think these changes are incredibly important, particularly at that level of government. If we think about your typical council, perhaps outside of inner Melbourne – once you get to outer suburban Melbourne, once you get to regional Victoria, indeed when you get to rural Victoria – the sorts of infrastructure that exist in a place like this, or perhaps in federal Parliament, and the sorts of infrastructure and support that a councillor has around them are not quite the same. I think governance training and going through those different modules will be incredibly important.

This obviously follows on from the act in 2020. Since the start of the 2020 council term we have had to use that act on several occasions. Unfortunately in that period 12 councils have had municipal monitors appointed to provide support and monitor their governance practices, though with only five monitor appointments last term. That is a significant improvement, and through this legislation we are seeking to improve that again. If we can arm mayors, deputy mayors and councillors with the knowledge and governance training that they need to be able to self-regulate in the best way that they can, it is going to save us from having to put those administrators or governance officers in. Fifty-six councillors have resigned as a result of this; one councillor has been dismissed following a commission inquiry, and one has been suspended.

As I said at the start of my contribution, Victorians deserve the most adequately trained councillors to represent them. That is what this bill does, and I commend it to the house.

Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (17:04): I rise this evening to speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024 to a captivated audience. It is a bill that will benefit greatly from the reasoned amendment put forward today. The piece of legislation aims to address issues of accountability, conduct and governance within the local government sector. This will be done with amendments to the Local Government Act 2020 in relation to governance and integrity matters, with amendments to the Local Government Act 1989 to reflect machinery-of-government changes and by making consequential amendments to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act ‍1998 and for other purposes. By emphasising good governance councils should therefore be able to make more informed decisions and effectively deliver services for their communities and ratepayers.

I do want to give a shout-out – I have six LGAs across the Euroa electorate and have a really great relationship with all of them, but many of these councils have actually gone through a really, really difficult time as the primary form of recovery and support throughout the floods. This has been ongoing for several years and looks to be ongoing for several more years. I do want it understood that when you have a council that operates well, golly, they are good. They are amazing, they are supportive, they are the safety net of our community and they are driven by councillors that are from the community and for the community with people’s best interests at heart, and that is about benefiting their community. I often lean on our local councillors for investment needs, making sure that I am across some of the data and the issues of our community and that we have the adequate infrastructure and services to provide that support, and they have been great mentors for me in this role as well. They reach out to me and raise issues, often confidentially but always in support of this role because it is the microphone for the people of the Euroa electorate.

This bill also recognises the growing number of interventions at a local government level in recent years, including council dismissals, suspensions and the appointment of municipal monitors, something that has happened within my electorate this year with the Strathbogie Shire Council. I want to get back to when you have councillors that are there for your community, representing your community, from the community. That is when we are on the sweet spot – when we have the best representation because they are a part of the community. They live and breathe it. But when we have councillors that might have their own political ambitions that come ahead of community needs, we have deep concern about our representation of regional councils.

Strathbogie Shire Council has been under the supervision of an interim administrator Peter Stephenson since December 2023, when all councillors were suspended by the Minister for Local Government following a tumultuous period involving multiple council monitors and significant media attention. The decision was a step in the right direction to ensure residents of the Strathbogie shire are governed effectively and with the best interests of our community in mind. Poor local governance resulted in frustrated local ratepayers, with a lack of care being shown for the needs of residents, particularly when it came to council being able to deliver those essential services that we have heard a lot about – just getting back to basics like your roads, rates and rubbish. My office is regularly informed about local government concerns from members of our communities. Planning issues, ineffective rubbish collection, a lack of road maintenance, long delays in getting back to residents and overstepping their mark when it comes to broader social and ideological issues are some of the major issues shared with my office.

An effective council can deliver fantastic outcomes for our local communities, and this is something worth pursuing. When you are in a position of leadership you must find ways to work together to serve the people you are elected to represent. That is the job. It is essential to stay connected to your community and ensure you are always acting with the best interests of your residents in your heart. Reading the monitor’s report made in the lead-up to the suspension of Strathbogie shire, it was clear that this was not always the case. Major concerns in the report included councillors not knowing their roles, poor conduct, overinvolvement of council in operational concerns and the resignation of several councillors due to a toxic environment. This has actually had a lasting impact on many of the councillors who have currently been suspended. Their mental health has been impacted, their reputation has been impacted and their commitment now to the community has been impacted. But I do want to say that while there is all of the negativity in this space, they originally did go into it with the right intentions, and I do want to thank every councillor in the Euroa electorate for their service to our community.

After seeing situations like Strathbogie up close, it is clear that improving accountability, conduct and governance of the local government sector is a valid concern to be addressed, but there are some concerns. While the intention to strengthen oversight of local government is commendable, we have concerns about the increasing scope and powers of municipal monitors. The suspension and disqualification of councillors and the process behind this raise concerns. There are potentially significant implications regarding due process and the democratic process and needing to safeguard against potential abuse of power or political interference. Although the bill aims to clarify and improve the framework governing council conduct, there is apprehension regarding the fairness and transparency of the new procedures. Ensuring that councils are afforded adequate rights and protections while also maintaining accountability is crucial. Introduction of new procedures for addressing misconduct applications, while intended to streamline the process, have also brought concerns when it comes to the efficiency and fairness of the system. It will be essential to ensure all parties involved have access to due process and fair representation.

The various changes proposed in the bill to enhance council governance, including mandatory training and alterations to the model councillor code of conduct, may have far-reaching implications. Concerns have arisen about the practicality and effectiveness of these measures in ensuring the desired outcomes of improved governance and accountability. These areas are of concern and highlight the need to carefully consider and scrutinise the proposed amendments to ensure that they strike the right balance between accountability, transparency and the protection of democratic principles within our local government.

It is pleasing to know that in addition to the legislation a parliamentary inquiry into local government funding and services was begun recently by the Legislative Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. The committee will investigate local government funding and service delivery in Victoria. Having met with councils across the region, questions remain between the state and local government about who pays for what and how much each should pay. We have seen this with the ongoing concerns over school crossing supervisors, the state of our roads and several areas that directly impact our communities and those who live within them.

When it comes to school crossing supervisors, this has been an ongoing issue since I was elected. Funding disputes between our councils and this government are not helping anyone and instead are putting the safety of our children at risk. Conversations I have had with community members have made it clear that this is something worth fighting for, and we will not stop until our children are safe. I would like to thank the Minister for Roads and Road Safety for addressing this and rectifying it. However, we have one road that still needs a school crossing supervisor. I have spoken with school staff, students, parents, council representatives and concerned residents as well as raising the issue in Parliament on countless occasions. With stories of near misses and speeding vehicles, it is imperative that this is not left too late. The school crossing supervisor program is critical to keeping our children safe, and I am hoping this inquiry and further clarity for our local councils will provide an important opportunity to examine what is working well and what can be done better at a local government level.

Another growing area for local councils is the increase in illegal dumping in communities. My office has heard from several constituents about an increase in rubbish being dumped along roadsides and outside properties as well as issues accessing landfills across the electorate. This comes at a time when the government will raise the metropolitan industrial and municipal waste levy by $40 to nearly $170 a tonne from 1 July 2025. We need to be making it easier and safer to dispose of rubbish in our regional communities, not harder. While reducing landfill waste might be a priority in the city, our waste needs to go somewhere. As things stand we are hearing of rubbish piling up on roadsides and a lack of urgency to clean it up by those responsible. Meanwhile almost 60 per cent of Victorian councils have hiked their waste charges by more than 5 per cent, with a quarter increasing them by more than 10 per cent since July last year. There have been cases of people breaking into landfills in the electorate just to dispose of waste, something that this levy increase will only make more prevalent if allowed to stay in place.

One area that also needs to be explored in the bill is the council election process. Elections are set for October this year, giving residents of our local communities an opportunity to vote for new local representatives or stand for election themselves should they be interested. For a council like Strathbogie, a council that currently has all its councillors and mayor suspended, this is a particularly important election. It is a great opportunity to have genuinely community-focused people in positions that allow them to represent their region. A clean slate is just what our councils need, and I encourage any would-be councillors in the local community to put their hand up for the role.

Paul HAMER (Box Hill) (17:14): I also rise this evening to talk about the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. It is a really important bill, and I want to firstly thank the Minister for Local Government for bringing this important reform to the Parliament. I want to start by just reflecting on the role of local government. It is a really important tier of government, the third tier of government, and it is often said that it is the closest tier of government to the people and to the community. It is a lot more than roads, rates and rubbish, as we have been hearing; the amount of services that councils do provide covers leisure, community sport, aged care, health, environment – just an enormous range of activities. I do reflect on my time on staff at one of our local governments in Victoria, and I must say I really enjoyed that period of time in my life because there was enormous community interaction. Just being able to engage with the community and feel that I was helping the community in delivering a wonderful outcome for the community really filled me with pride, and I felt a sense of fulfilment and job satisfaction.

I do want to reflect on some of the actions taken by our local council, the Whitehorse council, to exit some of these services. I have raised this in the chamber before and I got quite the response, and a number of my eastern suburbs colleagues also got quite the response: denying that they were pulling out of some services. In particular the services that they were pulling out of and outsourcing were in relation to aged care, the Meals on Wheels service and the home support services. I remember speaking to many constituents in the lead-up to the election about how worried they were that, for example, the cleaners or the people who would come to actually help cook the meals in their homes were going to be different people. So someone who had been used to getting the same person for year after year was suddenly going to be confronted with a different person – a stranger. You can imagine how confronting that could be if you were in your 80s or 90s, alone and feeling vulnerable and having a different person come in. Not only that, but often the hours were cut. Particularly in relation to cleaning that made a huge difference to people because the hours were cut. We also raised at the time the proposal from Whitehorse council to outsource the leisure services at Aqualink. Again, I did cop a bit of flak for raising that –

John Mullahy interjected.

Paul HAMER: Yes, the member for Glen Waverley does mention a different style of management. They recently emailed all the participants in the engagement process – they ran a consultation process on the outsourcing of the leisure services – and it was called ‘Improving leisure services’. I guess that is what the title was. It said the council was exploring a change to the management model. It said that council has now decided to go out to market with an expression of interest to run the learn-to-swim school, which is run at both the Aqualink Box Hill and the Aqualink Nunawading, and this will be followed by a public tender process to explore an external management model for Aqualink Box Hill and Aqualink Nunawading. Now, if that is not outsourcing, I do not know what is.

I particularly want to call out Surrey Park Swimming school. They have been operating since 1904 I believe – a wonderful community club. They are, along with Nunawading, probably the two best-credentialed clubs in Victoria in terms of creating opportunities for future champions. In a couple of months I am sure we will all be glued to our TV screens watching the Olympics, particularly the Olympic swimming. So many of the Victorian swimmers who have represented Australia have come from the Nunawading swim school and the Surrey Park swim school. In the case of Surrey Park, the way they are able to fund their more elite programs is through their learn-to-swim school. They have been doing this for many years. It is sort of a full program. Not only does the learn-to-swim school help fund the senior program, but many of the senior, elite swimmers also serve as coaches and teachers for the learn-to-swim school. So in the same way that these future stars are growing their own athletic potential, they are also learning life skills and leadership skills. If council are opening it up to a full –

Cindy McLeish: On a point of order, Acting Speaker, as a devoted follower of the swimming in Australia and Victoria, I fail to see how that actually relates now to the bill that we have before us. I ask you to bring the member back to the bill.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Paul Edbrooke): On the point of order, it has been a wideranging debate, and I do see the connection between the context that the member for Box Hill has been setting and his council. But I do appreciate your point of order.

Paul HAMER: I was just completing the point about the importance of the role that local governments play in delivering the services that matter. This also reflects the broad service offering that councils do provide.

In terms of the particular elements of the bill, it focuses on improving the code of conduct. This comes out of recommendations from IBAC’s Operation Sandon Special Report, and seven of the recommendations will be incorporated and implemented through the bill. That includes the development of a model councillor code of conduct, provision of regular mandatory training for councillors and for mayors and deputy mayors, and extending the maximum period of suspension from one month to three months, which an arbiter may direct following a finding of misconduct. I think that these are some really important reforms. I know that councils are already required to have a code of conduct, but this is not applied globally – each council creates their own code of conduct – so it is going to be very important to have one that applies across the board.

I do know that there have been a couple of instances at Whitehorse council which have really disturbed me where constituents have raised with me that councillors have verbally abused them, which is just simply unacceptable behaviour. We should never accept that, any of us, as elected officials or at a council level. Unfortunately, when I look at the process to date usually it appears to be more that I suppose it will be arbitrated within the council and you are directly confronting the councillor that hurled this abuse and harassment. I see that as a really difficult situation. I mean, if you think of it in any other context, trying to raise this complaint when you have to perhaps directly confront the person who is making that abuse towards you is a really difficult situation. So I do hope that the model councillor code of conduct can really consider some of these challenges that occur, that are occurring right now and occur in real life and will improve the situation for everyone.

Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (17:24): We have before us today the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. I think there are a couple of words that are really important in the title of the bill, which are ‘governance and integrity’. We have got a bill here that is about improving accountability, conduct and governance within the local government area. We know that there are 79 local government authorities in the state and there are 21 small and rural – and I have two of those, the Murrindindi and Mansfield shires, and then I have the Nillumbik and Yarra Ranges, which are somewhat larger. Previously I had a lot to do with the Mitchell shire. Through all of those councils and certainly through this role, you see and you hear many different stories about the behaviour and what it means and the impact it has on the services being delivered at the local level. I think that we do need to stop and review the systems in place at the time, whether that is legislation or any of the frameworks within that, to have a look to see how it is working and where things can be improved.

We have had an issue now with Operation Sandon where there have been a number of recommendations that have brought about these most recent changes. If we start to drill down a little bit, the main purposes of these reforms are to provide ongoing mandatory training for councillors and mayors – and I will come back to that – to improve the councillor conduct framework and to clarify the responsibility of councillors, which is important too. There are a couple of issues around the suspension and disqualification of individual councillors, there are going to be further powers provided to the chief municipal inspector and there are a few other little bits and pieces along the way.

One thing that I find quite alarming is what I see as the increased rate of municipal monitors being put in place. Say, for example, 12 years ago it was a rarity. It was a big deal in this place to implement, and I think Brimbank was one that comes to mind quite readily. The process of putting that monitor in place, getting it through both houses of Parliament and making that happen quickly was a big deal. Everybody had to stop and think and know the importance of it. Now it seems that they have done this process so quickly, and something like 12 councils have had municipal monitors of some sort in recent years. I find it quite alarming that we have had situations within councils across the state, and I mean across the state – it is not a city thing, it is not a regional or metro or rural thing; across the state councils are having issues. We really need to have a look at what the causes are of those issues.

One thing that bothers me is the increased politicisation of the councils and the councillors. Certainly in circumstances where the councillors themselves do not see themselves as the advocate of the elected representative but they see themselves as an activist I think that causes a lot of tension within councils. We have those with a very political or personal interest. We have seen and I have seen in my area a number of very volatile council meetings. We must make sure that the councillors and staff are safe at all times. Yarra Ranges, for example, have had a whole bunch of difficulties. They had a lot of abusive behaviour from the public gallery. I know Whittlesea were also reporting problems with the galleries. We had meetings abandoned, there were meetings without the public and then there were meetings that had to be done by Zoom.

Actually, I commend the Yarra Ranges for how they handled those matters, because they are not always skilled in how to deal with abusive behaviour from the gallery that steps over the line. It was not just hurling a couple of derogatory remarks, it was actually bad behaviour where police and security not only had to be called but had to be put in place time and time again. The councillors as they come to their meetings do not always understand some of the things in the wider environment that are happening and how it actually impacts them. At the time Cr Jim Child really took control of the issues and kept all of the staff and councillors safe by abandoning and walking out of the room at those times. He had the wherewithal to do that and to think on his feet that, ‘This is what I need to do.’ But I think it is fair to say that not every mayor or every council can think so quickly on their feet and know what they can do and the implications. I think for these sorts of things it is important that they are addressed.

We had Operation Sandon, and I will just make a couple of comments there, because this really homed in on the behaviour of councillors and access to councillors. We saw that over a decade Mr Woodman, a developer in the area, manipulated and improperly influenced Casey councillors. There were hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash payments and the creation and funding of community groups for personal gain and really try to coax councillors into voting for what he wanted, and he had lucrative planning developments. This was a very, very serious matter with what happened and how it happened. Councillors need to know and understand very much what is in limits and what is not. You would expect that that would be the case, that they would stop and reflect, ‘Hang on a minute, what passes the pub test, what doesn’t pass the pub test?’ But I think the more training that that they can have to understand what it is that they need to do in their role and how to do it – I think that is particularly important, and mandatory training for mayors, deputy mayors and councillors is particularly important.

If we have a look at who comes to be elected as a councillor, well, we have a variety of people that get elected, from those who are very unskilled to those who are very skilled – those who have had strong work experience and understand the ways organisations, corporations and businesses run and those that perhaps are still wet behind the ears and have had no life experience or business experience. We have skilled and unskilled, but we also have experienced and very experienced. We have to understand that this is what we have to deal with; we have people who are elected from that vast range.

Think about the differences within councils. I have had a look, trawling through some annual reports and financials, which I quite like to do, at my area, at Mansfield and Nillumbik. Mansfield is a relatively small rural council with a revenue of $30 million and assets of $278 million. At Nillumbik the revenue is $112 million but the assets are almost $1 billion – $981 million. Move then to the City of Geelong, which has a revenue of $610 million – much, much more than some of the smaller country areas – and its assets are $4.5 billion. Glen Eira has a revenue of $202 million and assets of $2.8 billion, and Kingston has $610 million revenue and $4.5 billion. These are significant sums of money.

I talked before about having the unskilled and the inexperienced. If we have a 19-year-old elected to council – and I heard one of the members before talking about what he was at 19 – I do not know what training that person would have done in terms of understanding a balance sheet and understanding their responsibilities around responsible fiscal management and what level of debt they can carry and what level of debt they should not carry or about how the reserves fit in and how much they could draw down or not draw down on reserves. It frightens me greatly that not only do we have people who do not understand how to behave in meetings but we also have people that do not have a lot of the skills to know what they need to do in terms of that governance where you have ‘What is the difference between the role of a councillor and the CEO?’ or ‘What is the interaction between the council and the CEO if you are not the mayor?’ or ‘What is the interaction between the other councillors and the senior staff or maybe the person who works in the planning department that you duck by and ask questions?’ These are relationships that are very important to understand and are at the core of good and strong governance, and I think we do not see that often enough.

Too often I see activists who are there for their own political advancement, who see a seat at a council table as the next step to becoming a state or a federal MP – as their training ground. They are there for different reasons, and I think it is really important that they understand and have such training in governance so that they know what it is that they can and cannot do and the extent of their responsibilities, because the responsibilities are fairly large. We have enormous balance sheets here, and I see too often people fighting and bickering and councils getting distracted, and not with the work, the core business. I know on this side we look at roads, rates and rubbish, and we see too many councils going off in other directions and spending ratepayer money in places where they perhaps should not. I think strengthening some of the areas around the training and making that mandatory is only a positive thing.

Katie HALL (Footscray) (17:34): I am very pleased to make a contribution on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024, and I think nothing exercises people more than a discussion around the performance of their local council. I know certainly in my electorate office – and I know a lot of my colleagues in here would have the same experience – a lot of the issues that come in are actually local government issues. Victorians deserve at a minimum to have confidence in their local council, and we rightfully expect that councils fulfil their core functions, that councils do the basics properly as a minimum.

Local government is a very important level of government. The great political cliché that all politics is local is very true. It matters if the footpaths are maintained and fixed. It matters if the rubbish is collected in the park. Libraries matter. The provision of early childhood services matters, and unfortunately in recent years we have seen local governments neglecting some of their responsibilities in the provision of early childhood services. And of course statutory and strategic planning matters for neighbourhoods – urban design affects everything. I have lots of discussions in my community around some of the public realm and urban design issues we are grappling with in Melbourne’s inner west. So it matters for local government to have a vision for their communities.

Of course if you are a councillor, if you are attentive to your duties and your obligations, it is hard work. I have watched on with dismay as councillors in my local area have been abused, have had their phone ring at all hours of the night, perhaps by people who have been egged on by other councillors. Some pretty shameful behaviour goes on. Infamously at the City of Maribyrnong we have also had acts of aggression in our council chamber in the past and security needed for councillors. So it goes both ways: respect is very important in all workplaces and the way we engage with each other. It is unacceptable to me that any council officer, public servant or councillors would ever be subjected to an unsafe workplace. We all have responsibilities in that regard. We all have to be accountable for our actions and the issues and the behaviours that we promote in our workplaces, and a council is no different.

I represent an electorate that sits entirely within the City of Maribyrnong. I have worked very productively with the current mayor Cuc Lam and her predecessor Cr Sarah Carter. Sarah and Cuc have both agreed with me that within the council context there needs to be a much greater focus on Footscray and Footscray’s CBD. When I first raised the issue of land banking, Sarah Carter, who has been an exceptional councillor at the City of Maribyrnong over a long period of time, came to the table with me, and we worked together to get some of those land banking sites cleared. The current mayor Cuc Lam is working hard to ensure that the Footscray CBD receives more love, which it needs. Whether it is flowers in the planter boxes, more regular cleaning and working with those development sites to get moving on their permits, it is all important work. Of course my pet issue, which I think they are sick of hearing about down at council, is Paisley Street in Footscray and the state of the footpaths. These are the basics that people in our community expect through their rates. There is often a lot of commentary about how high the rates are in the City of Maribyrnong. We need those basics done properly.

Essentially this bill is all about providing the training that councillors need to conduct themselves professionally, to support them in their work and in their advocacy within their communities. Of course I commend anyone, whatever their political affiliation, who has the best wishes of their neighbourhood at heart who puts their hand up to be a councillor. It is far too important to be a place for professional protesters. Increasingly in the lead-up to this year’s council elections what we are seeing locally, and disappointingly also at the City of Maribyrnong, from some councillors is a focus on anything but the issues that matter to local residents.

The work of councils should be professional and relevant to their remit, and councillors should conduct themselves properly. In the past few years we have had a whole range of entirely unacceptable instances of misconduct at councils across Victoria. I was shocked, when I read information about this bill, that 12 councils have had municipal monitors appointed to provide support and monitor their governance practices, 56 councillors have resigned – that is a staggering figure – one council has been dismissed and one has been suspended. It would be a joke if it was not so serious. People often say, ‘I’d like to vote for the administrators,’ and that is a terrible situation because we should have confidence and faith that councils across Victoria can do what they are meant to do, and so often it is those basics that we feel like we are being let down on.

I am not shocked that the Greens are opposing these reforms, because a great deal of these issues have stemmed from behaviour at dysfunctional councils that have been dominated by the Greens political party. They are completely fraught with their own internal politics and they cannot do what they are elected to do. I think it is a luxury for councils – any council but also the City of Maribyrnong – to focus on issues that are outside of their areas of control. Elected councillors are focusing on issues in other areas of Melbourne, filling the council agenda at council meetings and wasting precious council resources with motions about issues relating to federal or state government and not engaging in their core business. It is a complete indulgence, because the basics have not been done properly.

I was frustrated to see another example of this just this week at the City of Maribyrnong, where the Victorian Socialist councillor, who is elected to represent perhaps the area of greatest need in the municipality, covering the CBD of Footscray, is not interested in Paisley Street or concerned about what is going on in the mall – for many years Joseph Road has been a bit of a planning debacle. Again this week – and I am the Parliamentary Secretary for Housing; he could have picked up the phone and had a chat to me about his concerns – he spent his time at the council meeting talking about the Victorian government’s Big Housing Build, an issue I am very proud of. I would be very happy to brief the council. It is the largest investment in public, social and affordable housing in the nation’s history, and I would be happy to give him all of the details. But instead of focusing on those issues that he is elected to represent the community on, he focused on an issue where he could have just picked up the phone – I would have been really happy to have a chat with him about our investment in public housing and our commitment to social housing. It is these things that I think frustrate residents ‍– they frustrate me as a resident – because there is so much potential there for the council to do more if it focuses on its core business.

Sarah CONNOLLY (Laverton) (17:44): It is so wonderful to follow my colleague and good friend and neighbour the member for Footscray as she has talked so eloquently about the importance of this bill this evening. I too share the member for Footscray’s sentiments, and I follow on by saying that running for local council and being part of local government, local government decisions and ratepayers money is an incredibly serious and important business and is something that, quite unfortunately, is the reason why we have had to bring this bill before the house. It is the reason why councillors need to not only treat each other but also treat residents with the respect and the dignity that everyone in our community should be treated with. There are aspects of this bill that look to improve those very basic fundamentals of being in public service and the way in which you treat not only your colleagues – sometimes you might say they are your frenemies or your enemies – but also disaffected residents. You still need to treat people with dignity and respect.

I welcome this bill in providing training, including that code of conduct, which will help enable, help train and help improve the conduct of local councillors. Unlike the member for Footscray, who takes in the City of Maribyrnong, I take in the big four councils in the western suburbs, the best of the west let us say. I have got the City of Maribyrnong, I have got Wyndham City Council, I have got Hobsons Bay and I have also got Brimbank. On a regular basis I am meeting with CEOs, I am meeting with councillors and I am meeting with the mayor. It is almost part of the weekly activities that I do in my electorate, and the reason for that is because we are funding or co-funding so many fabulous initiatives within these local government areas that are so important in helping council and enabling council to go ahead and provide services, facilities and sometimes infrastructure sooner rather than later.

That is particularly evident in the City of Wyndham, which is able to dip into a very special fund. I always talk, when I go to the ribbon cuttings in the City of Wyndham – opening things like sporting pavilions and community centres, which I believe I will be going to next week in Truganina – about the Growing Suburbs Fund. The Growing Suburbs Fund is something where Wyndham City Council has been able to receive tens of millions of dollars to help expedite some really important projects like the sporting pavilions and community centres, which do an incredible job in our local community. We bring them online sooner rather than later, and that is a huge benefit for local residents when all levels of government are able to work collaboratively together.

But it fills me with disappointment when I hear about instances that residents may find themselves in with council or where in fact they have watched council meetings, have just been outraged and appalled at the way in which local councillors treat each other and feel that they are not displaying the seriousness which, being in public office, they should be displaying. Since the last round of council elections in 2020 there have been, let us face it, a concerning number of interventions in councils. It is one thing for state government to go ahead and intervene; it is another thing, which this bill goes to, to try to train our councillors to behave better and not be involved in particular conduct that gets them into trouble where we have to intervene, because at the end of the day we do not want to have to intervene in local government. We do have other important things that we would rather be doing with our time. Quite recently I was really concerned to hear that one of our councils in the Laverton electorate had a monitor appointed to it. It was not something that I was particularly happy to hear. I felt disappointed for residents that their local council was not acting in a way in which it should have been. We also heard some disturbing reports from a rural council that ended in them being dismissed.

One of the key areas that this bill is actually seeking to improve is councillor training. Although we would like to think that everyone that runs for council is appropriately trained and has the skills and attributes of someone entering public office should they be elected, the fact of the matter is sometimes they do not, and the least they can do is some training to try and improve their skills and behaviour and be the best possible local councillor they can be, because they are elected for four years. Mayors and deputy mayors are going to be required to undertake additional training as well. I think that is important because the mayor I believe is paid additional money to be the mayor, and therefore they should be upholding a moral code of conduct. They should be behaving; their behaviour should be at the highest standard. Additional training to me seems a no-brainer, and that is what this bill is doing.

This will be required within one month of a councillor being elected to their role, and I think it is really important to put in the timeframe for when they need to undertake that training, because it needs to be within one month. We do not want it to be within 12 months or two years; it needs to be as soon as that councillor is elected, so it is really good to see that timeframe in there. I think this is a really great step towards ensuring that all councillors, whether they are seasoned hands – because some people run every four years and get elected and spend decades on council – or newly elected for the first time, have the skills and have the knowledge needed to understand their role within the local government organisation – it is an important role – as well as their duties and their obligations as elected officials.

As I touched on, it is really pleasing to see that the bill is also going to establish a model councillor code of conduct that must be observed by all councillors. This is going to ensure that all councils have a consistent approach to setting expectations for how their representatives act and most importantly conduct themselves. It is something that has been so strongly supported by the local government sector, with over 71 per cent of responses during consultation being in favour of this. We know it is a problem. We have been told it is a problem consistently, and we are going ahead and doing something about it. This is not just good for councillors, it is also great for the staff that do, and have to, work around them. Importantly, those council staff not only work in the sector but are there to help support the local councillors. Sometimes that gets missed in the behaviour with which local councillors treat the staff around them.

These measures are important, because we also know that it comes down to behaviour. If that was any of us in this place, that type of behaviour that we have heard that some councillors are acting out towards staff would not be tolerated. We have had this sort of behaviour reported in my neck of the woods – I am not going to say under which council. We have had local councillors excuse their poor behaviour as aggressive leadership, which is very, very concerning. Like I said, we have got the best of the west under the seat of Laverton. You know, I have had instances where councillors have talked to me about the kinds of things that have been said to them or the abuse they feel has been inflicted by other councillors. It is really difficult because their only recourse is to simply report it to the Local Government Inspectorate or to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. Now we have a moral code of conduct. Councillors know how they need to act themselves and towards staff. That kind of behaviour that I have heard of in the past is not okay, and it is really important to call it out. The introduction of a code of conduct will bind all of the councillors. It will ensure that this kind of behaviour is further deterred and, really, hopefully stamped out.

In the last 35 seconds I have in my contribution, I do want to give a big shout-out to the majority of councillors, who do do the right thing. Like I said, I have got the best of the west – I have got the four local government areas – and the majority do the right thing. I also want to give a shout-out to the CEOs I have gotten to know over the years, past and present. They have done a remarkable amount of work to benefit the community, and quite often the community does not see the amount of work that goes in. So a big shout-out to them, but also a big shout-out to the council staff, who usually absolutely love their jobs. They do tireless work for the community and quite often do not get recognised. I commend the bill to the house.

Jackson TAYLOR (Bayswater) (17:54): It is a great privilege to rise and speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024, and can I first just say a huge thankyou to the Minister for Local Government for the huge amount of work that has gone into this piece of legislation, another really important reform of the Allan Labor government, making sure the local government sector works for everyone. A critically important thing that this government has done is to continue to reform, to improve, the sector, which covers 79 councils across our state. So I thank the minister. I also want to thank the staff, all of the department, for their important work.

We often hear lots of stories, but it is always nice to know that that is the minority, so I guess it would be remiss of me to not also thank all the people who put their hands up to stand at local government elections and all those people, by and large, who do a good job representing their communities as elected councillors, as mayors and deputy mayors. I remember my two years on council, what a whirlwind time that was – 2016–18, 24 years of age. It was great. I definitely prefer being here, though. I could not even tell you – so much better. Anyway. I remember the real MVPs were, to be honest with you, the staff. The staff were absolutely incredible. The CEO, the executive leadership team and the staff are just something else. You will see it right across the public service – because local government staff are sort of a different level of public service, but they are absolutely community-minded people who want to deliver outcomes for their community.

In talking about this legislation, it reminds me that often councils are told they should only worry about roads, rates and rubbish. I think we can see the work that our local government sector does across this state, and it is clearly more than just those three things. It absolutely has to be. Although I will come to a few instances in the last little while at Knox council, the area that I represent, a couple of things that they have done that I absolutely disagree with. I have put that well and truly on record, as have my community, but I think that for the most part councils do a very reasonable job, whether it is in advocacy and service delivery around mental health, meals on wheels, in the arts and culture space or in sporting and recreation. The member for Footscray, who spoke so eloquently before, is nodding there, understanding the important role that council has.

But of course it is in partnership with good partners like the Allan Labor government that we deliver for our community, because it really is a partnership. You have got to have all three levels of government, all three cogs of the wheel, moving together. I have not used that phrase before; I am not sure I ever will again. But what do you think, Acting Speaker? Okay, thank you – two thumbs up, very good. That partnership is really, really important, but it is also important not just to have those partnerships but to make sure you have got sensible reform to improve the sector, to keep people accountable and to have that important transparency to ensure that people can have faith in the local government sector. Before I come to some of the parts of the bill –

Steve McGhie interjected.

Jackson TAYLOR: That is true. The member for Melton did actually mention this. We were having a spirited conversation just before I came on. It was great to hear the member for Melton’s passion about working with the local government sector, partnering with his councils to deliver great outcomes. I know just in the last few weeks of scrolling through my social media accounts I have seen lots of the member for Melton with two thumbs up. I am not sure whether they are local government projects –

Steve McGhie interjected.

Jackson TAYLOR: One for each council; I love it. When I read through Hansard, it was the same thing last sitting week: the member for Melton interjected, and then I picked it up. I am not supposed to do that; that is right. But I too share a passion, like the member for Melton, for working with my council in Knox City Council. Like I said, for the most part they are, like every other local government area, good people trying to do good things. I have been really proud to have a really strong working relationship with my council, with the CEO Bruce Dobson and the current mayor Jude Dwight, the Chandler ward councillor, who I commend on her time served as mayor up to this point.

Over the course of the journey since I have been elected, my favourite partnership I have worked on with Knox council would be the Boronia suburban revitalisation board. Acting Speaker Edbrooke, you too would know the great power and the change that can be driven through the revitalisation board in an important partnership with council. Obviously there are multiple partners, but council would be the most important partner. We have delivered millions of dollars of projects – to name a couple, the Lupton Way streetscape renewal and of course the Erica Avenue streetscape renewal – a whole range of place-based change in Boronia that has really kickstarted that CBD, given it a new sense of direction, a new purpose and a new identity. That has happened because of the relationship through council and of course through the way that this government interacts and reforms councils, makes those partnerships and makes those outcomes absolutely possible.

I have been really proud to work with council on a number of other projects. We have delivered a number of upgrades to cricket nets in Ferntree Gully and in Bayswater. We have done new lights as well in Wantirna and Bayswater and Boronia. We have done lots of different cricket nets and lighting projects. We are in the process of upgrading, in a partnership with the federal government, the pavilion at Tormore Reserve. The Boronia Hawks Football Netball Club are a fantastic local club, with the Boronia Cricket Club the tenants there, and that is a wonderful partnership, an election commitment made at the last election. That was delivered in the budget, and I am now working with council to make sure we get that done. That project is on track, and the clubs are happy with the outcome. The member for Monbulk, who is not here at the moment, will be very pleased to know the plans to date. It is in her electorate, but I certainly interact with the clubs and engage with the clubs at the Wally Tew Reserve: the Ferntree Gully Football Netball Club and of course the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club. We are upgrading Wally Tew Reserve, a $2 million commitment that is being delivered. We are now working through that.

In the green heart of Knox we are creating loads of new open space. I think it is 18 MCGs – that is the traditional measurement used by Victorian MPs – of open space, creating a new next-level corridor through Blind Creek, right through the heart, the centre, of the Knox local government area. That is new open space, bringing waterways back to life, whereas back in the day they buried them under pavement, under grass, for fear of mosquitoes. There were all the other claims made by groups in the 1970s, but now we are bringing nature and our waterways back to life and giving them back to the community. That is probably my favourite partnership, the one we have got between council, Melbourne Water and the state government.

We have also upgraded the Eastern Raptors Rugby League Club’s pavilion and the Marie Wallace pavilion for the Bayswater Junior Football Club. We have also spent millions of dollars on creating the home of basketball in Wantirna South with council. They actually put in $27 million. It is absolutely incredible for a council to put in that kind of investment. The Knox regional netball facility was a $5 million contribution from the Allan Labor government to create a new two indoor court facility for netball, a huge sport which is very popular and growing. That now means they have got four indoor courts and a whole bunch of new car parks and amenities. It is a really great outcome for that community.

We have just opened the new library at Westfield Knox. That is the most impressive library I have ever visited. It has got little study nooks and all these amazing indoor study areas – lots of great areas for the bubs and kids and youth of Knox. We are also getting on with the dog park. I have made many contributions here, with many dog puns, about the dog park. I will save everyone from those puns. I am sure everyone is paying a great deal of attention, so I will save everyone from that. But I am looking forward to the new dog park.

I want to again just really commend council. I know they have taken a great interest in these reforms. I actually sat down with them and spoke about their interest in these reforms and listened. I know we have gone out and consulted with the sector more broadly, but I just want to thank them for taking the time to input, as well as all the other councillors and councils. I am really pleased to see that the Allan Labor government is continuing to reform the sector.

I just want to take the last 30 seconds to thank a good friend of mine, Cr Marcia Timmers-Leitch, who took over after I got into state politics. She has served for six years. She has been a fantastic local councillor. She just announced yesterday that she will be stepping down at the next election. I want to commend her on her service to the community. She has done a better job than I ever could have as the Collier ward councillor. I thank her for everything she has done, all that she has delivered. It has been great working with her, and I commend this bill to the house.

Eden FOSTER (Mulgrave) (18:04): I too rise today to address the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. The bill represents a significant stride toward improving the governance, integrity and effectiveness of our local councils. It is a response to the pressing need for reform driven by recommendations from key integrity bodies such as IBAC and the chief municipal inspector and by the calls of community members and local government leaders for action.

Before I delve into the specifics of this bill I want to share a little of my background. As many of you know, and as you would know, Acting Speaker Mullahy, I had the privilege of serving as a councillor at the City of Greater Dandenong for three years and in November 2022 was elected mayor as well and had the wonderful time of being mayor for my community and serving my community as mayor. This experience provided me with firsthand insight into the challenges and responsibilities faced by local government officials. It also underscored the importance of integrity, accountability and continuous professional development in public service. The reforms proposed in this bill resonate deeply with my own experiences and observations from my time in local government. In many roles one would expect professional development to be obtained. I know as a clinical psychologist as well that there are professional development hours that you are required to meet in order to be accountable in that particular profession. It serves an important purpose to expect that those in local government – councillors, mayors and deputy mayors – have some expectation of mandatory training, as this bill suggests.

The amendments to the local government acts proposed in this bill are vital for numerous reasons. First and foremost, they aim to address the recommendations made by integrity bodies. These recommendations highlight the need for stronger frameworks to prevent misconduct and to ensure that local government officials are equipped to serve their communities effectively. Furthermore, local government leaders and members of the community have voiced their concerns about the decline in public confidence in local government, particularly in areas where councillor behaviour and performance have been subpar. Just this month on 6 May the Minister for Local Government appointed a municipal monitor to the Buloke Shire Council, one of nine such appointments in the last 24 months to councils experiencing governance concerns. This underscores the urgent need for the reforms we are discussing today. This is not to say that all councillors are terrible, but we do need to work on elements that will help improve councillor behaviour. As I mentioned, as a former local councillor and former mayor I too often saw behaviour that perhaps was subpar, behaviour that could be seen as bullying or intimidation from other councillors. The bill that we have in front of us today really addresses some of this and ensures that councillors are made accountable and responsible.

One of the main provisions of this bill is the introduction of mandatory ongoing training for mayors and councillors. Leadership in local government requires continuous learning and adaptation to new challenges and regulations. Again, in my role on council there were a number of challenges that many councillors faced. Under this bill, mayors, deputy mayors and acting mayors are required to complete mayoral training within one month of their election or appointment. This requirement applies even to those who have been re-elected or have previously held these positions. The rationale is clear: continuous professional development ensures that our leaders remain well informed and capable of performing their duties to the highest standard. To enforce this requirement the bill stipulates that if a mayor, deputy mayor or acting mayor fails to complete the required training and make the necessary written declaration, their allowance will be withheld until they comply. This measure reinforces the importance of the training and ensures accountability.

Additionally, the bill reduces the period within which a councillor must complete their induction training from six months to four months after taking the oath or affirmation of office. I know how quickly six months can go, as I have served for six months the people of Mulgrave. This accelerated timeline ensures that new councillors quickly gain the essential knowledge needed to fulfil their roles effectively. Furthermore, all councillors are required to complete annual professional development training regardless of their previous experience or service duration. This ensures that all councillors stay current with best practices and evolving legislative requirements, whether they were only just elected or if they have been members of their local government for decades.

In my previous role I saw councillors who were offered training – it was mandatory – perhaps for a range of learning and development and used the excuse that because it was not mandatory they would not attend. This bill addresses that; it addresses any of those councillors being somewhat arrogant maybe, if I can use that word, or perhaps seeing that training as beneath them and that they do not need to attend such training. This bill makes it mandatory across the board. It is really important that councillors are trained adequately in relation to a code of conduct. For councillors unable to complete their training, perhaps due to leave of absence, the bill provides a grace period of one month after returning from leave to fulfil their training obligations.

Improving the councillor conduct framework and clarifying the responsibilities of councillors is another significant aspect of this bill. The role of the mayor now explicitly includes promoting behaviour among councillors that aligns with the model councillor code of conduct. This provision empowers mayors to actively foster a culture of integrity and respect within their councils. To support mayors in this role the bill clarifies that reasonable steps taken by a mayor to enforce this conduct are not to be considered bullying. This addition ensures that mayors can perform their duties without fear of unjust allegations, thereby reinforcing their ability to maintain high standards of conduct amongst councillors.

Looking at the changes to the code of conduct and mandatory training, as a female who put their hand up to run as a councillor a few years ago I can see that this would encourage more females to put their hands up and run for local government. It is so important that we have adequate female representation in local government. We have it here in this Parliament – we have 50 per cent, gender parity, here in this government – and so we need to encourage more women to run for local government. It is amendments like this that encourage women to run – knowing that there is an adequate code of conduct in place and mandatory training that will ensure that councillors perform and behave appropriately. This bill also introduces provisions for the suspension and disqualification of individual councillors in certain circumstances. I will not go through all the details due to time, but it will ensure that disqualification is reserved for the most serious breaches of conduct.

In conclusion, this bill represents a comprehensive and robust approach to enhancing the governance and integrity of our local councils. By mandating continuous training, clarifying roles and responsibilities, strengthening conduct frameworks and enhancing enforcement mechanisms this bill addresses the critical areas identified by integrity bodies and community leaders. My own experience as a councillor and mayor has shown me the importance of these reforms, and I believe that by implementing these measures we will empower our local government officials to serve their communities better and restore public confidence in their governance. By passing this legislation we are reaffirming our commitment to the principles of good governance and ensuring that our local councils are equipped to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. I commend this bill to the house.

David SOUTHWICK (Caulfield) (18:14): I rise to make some comments on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. I support certainly the amendment that has been put forward by the member for Murray Plains. It is important for us to get local council right, and there are a number of things in this bill – around governance, around training and around support for our councils and ensuring that we get the costs right in running councils, particularly in a cost-of-living crisis where things like rates are impacted and when councils are not doing what they are meant to be doing and are focusing on other things outside of their job. I note particularly that the amendment that the member for Murray Plains has put forward is to ensure that the overarching power of the minister in terms of how the act operates is not used politically, so many of these councils are not used as training grounds, are not used to effectively run political agendas instead of what they should be doing, which is representing their local areas and ensuring that local ratepayers get the best value. That is where I want to spend my time in the contribution that I have today.

I want to firstly single out some great examples of some areas in my electorate, both the City of Port Phillip and the City of Glen Eira. They are pretty good. I mean, there are many times when I have not agreed with some of the things that councils have done, but at the same time there are a lot of good examples of what our councils do. For example, the City of Glen Eira – I was just talking to former mayor Jim Magee. Jim Magee and I have not always been on the same side. Jim has been a member of the Labor Party, but I have got to tell you that Jim Magee has always fought very hard for local ratepayers. Jim and I have worked very strongly together on a lot of things, including better use of the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve. The current mayor, Anne-Marie Cade, is doing a fantastic job to ensure that local residents get their fair share. Cr Sam Parasol, the initial founder of our local bank, the Bendigo Bank, has always been a community man first and foremost. If you want somebody that knows about volunteering, and that is really what councillors should be about, it is Sam Parasol. He does not do the council role for any reason other than supporting his local community. That is the same of Margaret Esakoff, who is one of our longstanding councillors, again focusing on doing what is best for our constituents. A more recent councillor, our deputy mayor Simone Zmood, has stood up time and time again to ensure that the locals get their best, fair share of services. Even when there was closure of the childcare centres more recently, she advocated as strongly as she could for those to remain open. Unfortunately, they could not remain open, and largely that was because of cost shifting, which we are seeing from the Allan Labor government. It has cost shifted a lot of services to councils, putting pressure on them. Ultimately something has to give, and in that particular instance we saw childcare centres give.

Talking to Glen Eira Council, there is $19 million a year in cost shifting. That represents 10 per cent of the budget. If the Labor government did not cost shift $19 million a year, you could reduce rates in Glen Eira by 10 per cent. Now, in a cost-of-living crisis, for each and every ratepayer in the City of Glen Eira to have a 10 per cent reduction in their rates would be something that is absolutely needed at the moment. So there is a huge impact on cost of living when you see a state government putting pressure on councils; that ultimately pushes up the rates. The kinds of cost shifting are a whole range of things, including our electrical powerlines that need to be cleared. That costs $3 million each and every year to do that. That is a huge cost to be able to do that. Town planning, which is another issue in terms of a lot of the work through VCAT and town planning – they do not get paid additional for that. That is something that ultimately – in terms of responsibility, when they go through VCAT, it could be argued it is a state responsibility – local councils end up paying for. Even things like local crossings – our lollipop people – those great school crossing people are not being paid the same kind of money as on the Big Build at $200,000 a year; they are just getting a very basic stipend to be able to work. But currently the council is paying 70 per cent of that, and effectively state government is only contributing 30 per cent. So we see that time and time again.

The councils do need to be creative, and a big shout-out to Glen Eira. More recently they have partnered with Bayside council in providing in-home care for our aged residents. Those are things like some gardening, some shopping – basic services. Glen Eira realised that they cannot afford to do that alone and Bayside already has a system set up, so they have effectively outsourced a lot of this to Bayside to be able to get a better deal for ratepayers. That is what we have got to do. We need to see governments of all persuasions – local, state and federal – get a better deal for taxpayers. If we can do that, then credit to them.

That brings me on to the next and final point, which I think is crucial here, and that is where local councillors do not stick to their knitting. We have seen this unfortunately in recent times where we have local councils more focused on foreign affairs and international situations than they are on rates, rubbish, roads and the basic services that you expect a council to provide. It really disappoints me when you see the likes of Merri-bek, Yarra, Darebin and Dandenong. These councils, instead of providing basic services and keeping rates down, are going out and making comments on the Middle East. I mean, that is not what they are elected for. That is not what we should be using ratepayers money to fund. We understand there are complexities in the Middle East, but these councillors should not be commentators on the Middle East.

Unfortunately, when they bring situations thousands of miles away into the backyards of local communities, they are not doing anyone any favours. We have seen absolutely an increase in hate, an increase in antisemitism. This is driven by the likes of councils that are not focused on what they should be doing and are getting involved in being foreign affairs commentators on something that does no-one any favours whatsoever. That is why I would repeat the call that we should have councils that are doing their work. They should absolutely be rewarded for it. And we should be looking at situations where there are basic services in need. That is when the government should be funding them. But when you have got councils that are being negligent in their work, that are so preoccupied with things thousands of miles away, they should not be funded at all. That is where we should be looking at their funding and saying, ‘There is no place for councils that are so focused on political agendas. They’re not focused on their local community.’

I have always absolutely been a strong believer that at council level it should not be a political level. It should not be about whether you are a member of the Liberal Party, you are a member of the Labor Party or you are a member of the Greens. Quite frankly, I would be happy if they were a member of no party at all but were a member of the community and stood up for the community. They should not be training grounds for anyone or anything. We have seen the Greens have activated this for far too long. The Greens run a political agenda in council that is appalling – absolutely appalling. No-one should put up with that. Ratepayers money should not be used for any of that, and I think we need to call it out. When we have got the City of Yarra running absolute political agendas as training grounds for the Greens, we should call it out. When there is an opportunity to defund councils like the City of Yarra, we should look at doing that, because I think that would be a huge wake-up call to that council, to that entity, that it is unacceptable to do this. No-one should be using councils for that benefit or in that way.

In a cost-of-living crisis, when we know people are doing it really tough, ratepayers money should be used accordingly – basic services, aged care, health care, roads, rubbish and parks. There are so many things that councils should be preoccupied with. There is no room for anything else, no room for foreign affairs, no room for importing the situation in the Middle East into our backyards into these councils. Again, I reiterate my call for those councils that are using their work as political training grounds – and we know the Greens do this every day. Shame on you. Shame on the Greens for what they have been doing. There is no place for that. Let us finally have councils that do what they are meant to do and what they are elected to do, and that is stand up for their community and stand up for what they are meant to do – local work to ensure that the community gets the best deal.

Lauren KATHAGE (Yan Yean) (18:24): I am very pleased to rise to speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. I was reflecting today on why this bill is important. We have heard some commentary today about councils, and we have probably heard it from our constituents themselves. Rates, roads, rubbish is what they want people in council to focus on, but I actually think that that is simplifying things a little bit. Maybe times have moved on because, yes, absolutely there are essential services, but if we stop for a moment and think about what we rely on councils for, then we can recognise how important this bill is.

Last week we heard in the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings about the fund for supporting disaster-impacted communities which is available for local governments. It is an $8 million fund of the state government. The reason that the state government has made this fund available is in recognition of the fact that councils are often on the very front line and the first responders when there is a natural disaster. Certainly in my patch of the woods, in the storms following Christmas, Mitchell shire was out there straightaway supporting flood-affected communities. They are absolutely relied on by communities to keep them safe in such situations and to return a bit of normality to services that people rely on day to day. That is obviously a very important role that councils perform.

Also in my area there are growth areas, and in growth areas there are developers. As we know, councils have a role in ensuring that the actions of developers are for the benefit of the community. This is incredibly important in growth areas where, particularly in some of my areas, people might be new Australians and not be fully aware of their rights in relation to the developer or where developers may be seeking to maximise profits at the expense of the amenity of local communities. It goes beyond that as well to dodgy developers. So councils have a very important role to play: in this incredibly profit-driven business of development they are protecting and serving communities to make sure that they get the best possible outcomes. Of course we rightly expect the very highest, best conduct from councillors in such situations.

Finally, the other role of councils that I want to highlight, which underscores how important they are and therefore how important this bill is, is around maternal and child health. This is such a vulnerable stage of life for mothers and for their babies, especially for first-time mums who might not know how to perform some of the functions of caring for a child – I still do not know, but anyway. They also serve an important role in forming connections between new mothers within a community through mums’ groups. I know that this government was really pleased to extend the hours of the key ages and stages maternal and child health funding for councils.

For all of these incredibly important things – for communities to run well – you need good governance. You need councillors who are making the right decisions for the right reasons, and so we should expect the very highest standards of our councillors. This is not about punishing councils, as the member for Prahran seemed to imply; this is about serving and protecting communities. We make no apology for the fact that we expect the very highest and best service for our communities.

One of the things that I think this bill will do is act as a deterrent for people who otherwise might seek to be councillors. It shows how serious this role is and how serious the consequences can be for poor actions. It is not a sandpit – local council is not a sandpit. There are serious decisions, creating serious work, with serious consequences for people who do not do the right thing. That is why I think the model councillor code of conduct will be really important. It will make really clear to people what standards are expected of them and ensure that they are aligned across the state – that there are standardised minimum standards.

As we heard from the member for Mulgrave, it is important that we have training that is mandatory. As she highlighted, there are some people who may think that they are above training, that somehow they already know it all. I would probably say that if somebody cannot take the short time to go through training, then I am not sure what they think they can bring to the community. But I think it is really important that this training is mandatory, and the bill will decrease the amount of time that councillors have leeway before they are required to do their training.

Council really is teamwork. I have never been in a council, but my observation is that it requires a lot of negotiation and teamwork between the members, and one member doing the wrong thing can absolutely put a stick in the wheel of the council. So the suspension of individual councillors rather than the whole lot makes absolute sense to me. Individual councillors or a small minority of councillors could work together to stop the good functioning of the council by, for example, choosing not to attend meetings, meaning that council cannot form quorum when important decisions, that they may disagree with but know they are going to lose on, need to be taken, and we have certainly heard of examples of that. They can absolutely throw a spanner in the works, so rather than punish everybody for some people’s poor behaviour, it is right that there can be individual suspension of councillors.

There are going to be safeguards there. The municipal monitor or a finding from a commission of inquiry will be required, and the councillor will be given the opportunity to respond. So there are safeguards built in. If I think about the council staff that I have met through this role in my electorate but also through my experience as a community member, you cannot get better people a lot of the time: the fantastic grants officer from the City of Whittlesea, the awesome lactation lead from Mitchell shire and all of the staff that absolutely keep our communities running and running well. They deserve to be treated well at work. They deserve to work with councillors who, if they treat them poorly, can face serious consequences as a result. This side of the house will always work to make sure that workplaces are safe, and I see this bill as another part of that important work. But really it cannot be an easy job being a councillor. We have seen in recent years council meetings which have had to be closed and where there was security – I think there were even police at some of them. It is not an easy job, and certainly most councillors are fantastic.

I guess right now there are people that are thinking about running for council this year, and I am sure that they are motivated by the right thing. I am sure they are motivated by serving the community, and that is certainly our expectation of them. This bill will support them to be part of a team that can do that, that can serve the community without disruption. That is what I want to see in the coming election. I want to see good local candidates, I want to see good safe workplaces for them once they are elected and I want to have good outcomes for community as a result of good governance and good behaviour within councils, because we absolutely worked together with them as partners to deliver the Growing Suburbs Fund and the Living Local Fund and they worked so cooperatively with us, and we want to make sure that they are working cooperatively with the community as well.

Ella GEORGE (Lara) (18:34): It is my pleasure to rise today and speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024. This bill aims to strengthen our local councils, as we all know that good governance is so important in making sure that our communities are getting the best possible representation that they can. From the outset I would like to thank the Minister for Local Government and her team for the work and commitment that they have put into these and other important reforms. On this side of the house we are working hard on our election commitment to amend the Local Government Act 2020 in Victoria, and while it is sad to say, the truth is that reform is greatly needed right across the state. Over the past few years we have heard time and time again that there have been issues of misconduct in some local councils. In fact since the start of the 2020 council term there have been 12 local councils who have had municipal monitors appointed. Unfortunately, this is the case for residents I represent who are residents in the City of Greater Geelong council. As the member for Bellarine said earlier, in Geelong we are no stranger to investigations and monitors. Unfortunately, it is something we know quite well.

On 24 January 2023 the Minister for Local Government appointed municipal monitors to monitor governance processes and practices for a period of 12 months at the City of Greater Geelong. In addition to this, across the state we have seen 56 councillors resign, one council dismissed and one suspended. The current monitors at the City of Greater Geelong are in place to monitor council in relation to meeting procedures; decision-making, including the use of notices of motion; the councillor code of conduct and councillor behaviour; advice or recommendations made by the Local Government Inspectorate; effective working relationships between an ongoing CEO and the council; implementation of the commission of inquiry 2016 recommendations to address poor governance practices; and governance policies, processes and practices, so their remit is quite wide-ranging.

But this is not the first time that residents of the City of Greater Geelong have had their council overseen by monitors. In December 2015 the then Minister for Local Government appointed commissioners to inquire into certain matters at the council following the findings of a workplace culture review. In April 2016, the City of Greater Geelong council was dismissed following the commission of inquiry’s three-month investigation. The investigation looked into the council’s governance, administration and culture. During this period there were reports of bullying, substantial dysfunctional governance and performance that was well below standard, but mainly it was reported that there was a failure to provide good government for the city, something that all residents of Geelong deserve. The report from the commission of inquiry states:

The Mayor, although committed to the betterment of the City, has been unable to build good working relationships with either Councillors or Council staff. His bullying treatment of staff in his own office has damaged their health and wellbeing, resulting in the resignation of one staff member and the physical relocation of another. The Mayor’s threats of legal action against the Chief Executive Officer … and the Council if the bullying complaints against him were ever published demonstrate little commitment by him to workplace health and safety …

And as members know, this mayor and these councillors were dismissed. An interim administrator was appointed until monitors were appointed, and later the council was returned following an election.

I do want to highlight here the importance of staff wellbeing, something that seems to be frequently overlooked across the local government sector. This is not unique – what happened previously in Geelong – but rather something that seems to be happening right across the state, with so many reports of council misconduct, much of them focused on bullying and harassment, as many of my colleagues have referenced in the debate today. I hope that these important reforms lead to improved staff health and wellbeing right across Victoria. The historic issues at Geelong and other local governments across Victoria highlight the importance of the need to safeguard the ongoing autonomy and independence of democratically elected local governments but also ensure that there are guiding principles to drive the work of local governments.

Since the introduction of the Local Government Act 2020, we have witnessed how this legislation has transformed the sector. These reforms included highlighting the importance of long-term planning and clearly articulated asset management obligations; increasing council and councillor accountability, with clearer standards of behaviour for councillors; modernising election processes and candidate requirements; increasing transparency of council decisions; and better financial management and community engagement through council plans and annual budgets.

The Local Government Act 2020 has been effective. It has led councils to adopt innovative methods for involving their communities in decision-making and planning, and on this I do want to commend the City of Greater Geelong for their excellent community engagement, particularly with their Have Your Say website, which makes it quick and easy for residents to have input on all kinds of decision-making, from planning decisions to major community projects. However, certain reforms within the act have brought attention to ongoing issues in the sector, indicating the need for additional reform. Elected councillors serve four-year terms, with the elections scheduled for October this year, and it is crucial that this government provides support to councillors and councils for the upcoming term. This support could not come at a better time for Geelong as it undergoes a period of transition, shifting from multimember wards to single-member wards.

This bill will strengthen council leadership capability and councillor conduct, improve early intervention in conduct issues and effective dispute resolution, and strengthen oversight mechanisms to support good governance. Seven of the recommendations from IBAC’s Operation Sandon Special Report are incorporated and will be implemented through this bill, and these are incredibly important reforms. This includes the development of a model councillor code of conduct. This is hugely important. Councillors are elected officials, elected to represent their communities, and they should be held to account when it comes to their behaviour.

This bill makes other amendments to strengthen governance, and I do want to focus on one area that has been a key feature of this legislation and certainly a topic of discussion in my community. The bill outlines a thorough training program for councillors, designed to strengthen council leadership, the availability of training and councillor conduct. This includes the following requirements: that councillor induction training must be completed within four months of taking the oath or affirmation of office, as opposed to the current six-month requirement; that all councillors are required to complete professional development training each year of their term starting from the year following their election; and that mayoral training is mandatory for all mayors, deputy mayors and acting mayors within one month of their appointment. Failure to complete the training within the specified timeframes as set out by the regulations may lead to the withholding of a councillor’s allowance until the training is successfully completed. As we just heard from the member for Yan Yean, it should not take much time to complete and should be relatively easy for our elected officials to do. It is really important to note that the majority of responses to the consultation paper on the bill were in favour of these ongoing training requirements for councillors and mayors, and that is certainly something I have heard from my community across the Geelong region – that the mandatory training and professional development for mayors and councillors is very much welcomed.

The Local Government (Electoral) Regulations 2020 will be amended in June 2024 to give effect to the change to the close of the roll and other key dates in time for the October 2024 council elections. I am pleased that Local Government Victoria will soon commence the work with the sector and other key stakeholders to develop regulations for the model councillor code of conduct and for that mayor and councillor training. This will comprise a steering committee with representatives from the sector to advise on the development of these regulations; public consultations by Engage Victoria, and I encourage everyone to get involved in this; and an opportunity to make a submission on the draft regulations once they have been developed.

Before I conclude, I think it is important to reflect once more on why we have put this legislation to the Parliament. Our communities are stronger and more successful when the three tiers of government are working together and each tier of government is underpinned by rigorous standards, codes of conduct and principles. Sadly this has not always been the case with local government across Victoria, and this is our opportunity to change it for the better. We all understand the important role that local councils have from roads and rates and hard rubbish removal, but it is much more than that. We also know that Victorians rightfully deserve the highest governance and integrity standards from their local councils and elected officials. This bill aims to strengthen that. As a local MP I know the importance of each tier of government, and I also know that the best outcomes can be achieved when all three tiers of government work together. That is why I support this bill and I wish it a speedy passage.

Jordan CRUGNALE (Bass) (18:44): I rise to speak on the Local Government Amendment (Governance and Integrity) Bill 2024, and I too, like the member for Lara, thank the Minister for Local Government, her department and her team for all their work bringing this bill to the house and all the other reforms that came before that. With local government elections coming up towards the end of this year, it is important to move this bill through to ensure people’s confidence in their local government representatives and in the work of councils. Integrity should be at the heart of all levels of government, including our local councils. This government has taken steps over its term to ensure Victoria’s local governments demonstrate that value in their governing and daily activities.

We have seen that, of course, in my electorate of Bass, which takes in three local government areas, the Shire of Cardinia, the Shire of Bass Coast and also the City of Casey. We are all quite across what happened in the City of Casey back in 2020, when the council was dismissed and replaced by administrators. We did this because a report from the municipal monitor Laurinda Gardner found clear evidence that the City of Casey council had failed to provide good governance for its constituents. In dismissing the council we moved quickly because we wanted to show residents and all the community members and ratepayers that we cared about accountability in local government and making sure that their local representatives get on with the job. Like many people in this chamber, I was a former councillor as well – sort of by accident, really, but I know how important it is –

Nina Taylor interjected.

Jordan CRUGNALE: Yes, I got in on preferences, a bit like how I came to this place. It is important for Victoria’s local councils to be accountable and transparent and to govern in the best interests of all ratepayers and community members living in the local government area. This experience was certainly formative for me. I forged connections with the community across so many sectors – the business community, health care, environment, education, agriculture and the arts sector ‍– and I learned what locals wanted and needed from their council. I learned also how to work with the council and councillor colleagues on how to actually get those community priorities, aspirations and needs at the forefront of the budget, the policies, the services and the programs.

Local government is sometimes derided as being slightly useless, a bit of a waste of space. ‘Stick to the roads, rates and rubbish,’ they call out. But actually local councils do so much more than those three things. In fact, they deliver over a hundred services, which is quite remarkable. They stand up for their residents, they understand the issues going on at the grassroots level and they are advocates for their local community, also advocating to their state and federal representatives as well. They are at the core of decision-making on things like housing developments. They provide much-needed services, like maternal and child health and our well-loved libraries, and link residents with other providers when needed as well. They maintain our beautiful parks and gardens and provide our amazing swim and leisure centres, sporting clubs and community centres, and they help make our suburbs, our towns and our villages homes and communities. Everyone that works at council and also the representatives on the council all live in their area as well. How can they deliver on those and all the other vital services without integrity and good governance at the heart to guide them? The answer we have seen in recent years is they cannot. As all members in this place would know, integrity drives the way that you serve your constituents. Good governance keeps you accountable.

There is another layer of urgency to passing this bill, as I am sure we are all aware. Local government elections are fast approaching at the end of this year, and passing this bill in time for those elections provides a level of safeguarding for the incoming councillors and the residents as well and sets the new councillors up for success in their term to come. It sends a signal about what we expect from local government, and most importantly it gives councillors, mayors and deputy mayors the tools to do the job well. Once this bill is passed our local representatives will receive ongoing mandatory training to keep their governance skills up to date. Individual councillors who have been found to have created a bit of a serious risk at council or who prevent the council from functioning as it should will be at risk of suspension or disqualification. The councillor conduct framework will be improved, including by creating a power to introduce a uniform model councillor code of conduct with sanctions for misconduct, and the chief municipal inspector will receive enhanced enforcement powers and have the ability to issue infringement notices for certain offences under the Local Government Act.

This bill contributes to implementing 12 of the recommendations made in the IBAC Operation Sandon Special Report. It addresses recommendations for the development of a model councillor code of conduct; for the provision of regular mandatory training for councillors, mayors and deputy mayors, as I spoke of; and for extending the maximum period of suspension from one to three months after a finding of misconduct. This government also commits to further reforms to address the rest of the recommendations from the Operation Sandon Special Report, which we accepted in principle. The Operation Sandon Special Report – I am counting down those 3 minutes – was a wake-up call and a shining light. It revealed what was going on and where we should go next to ensure we do not see a repeat of the actions uncovered as part of IBAC’s investigation.

Back to the local government culture project, which has also informed the development of this bill. You can see how hard this government has worked to develop initiatives that will make a real difference to local government on the ground. How does this bill relate to good governance? At a basic level it lays the groundwork and sets up accountability measures that will work, provides measures for early intervention and puts integrity back at the heart of local councils. All of these proposed reforms are aiming at keeping our local councils focused on what they need to be doing and preventing any corruption from taking place before it even starts. We also know from the work that has been done in preparing these reforms and from the evidence we have gathered that not addressing the issues uncovered in the Sandon report will not only undermine ratepayers’ or community members’ trust in their local councils but also impede the delivery of essential services to communities.

The councillor code of conduct will strengthen faith in local governments and the decisions they make. The reforms proposed in this bill will enhance oversight and enable early intervention and effective dispute resolution. It will create a more capable generation of council leaders ready to take on the challenges of modern local government – local councillors and leaders that Victorian ratepayers and community members can be proud of.

In the short time that I have remaining, as I have mentioned, rightfully Victorians have high governance and integrity standards. They expect that from their councils. The past few years have been, as I said, fraught with some issues of misconduct, and we have heard from other members in the chamber who have mentioned a number of councils. In fact there were 12 all up that had municipal monitors appointed to provide that support and monitor governance practices, with only five monitor appointments last term. Fifty-six councillors have resigned, one has been dismissed following a commission of inquiry and one has been suspended. This bill, as I said, will strengthen council leadership capability and councillor conduct. It will improve early intervention in conduct issues and effective dispute resolution and strengthen the oversight mechanisms to support good governance. I commend the bill to the house.

Luba GRIGOROVITCH (Kororoit) (18:53): I must say it gives me great pleasure to stand before you and speak to the bill at hand. Having served on council, like many others in this place, I feel that I am also well versed to speak on this piece of legislation. For many of you that do not know, my very first role in public life was at Hobsons Bay City Council. I served there from 2008 to 2014. I was only 23 years old when I was first elected in 2008, and I have got to say it was an absolute honour to be elected. Like many others, I was attracted to stand for council for the same reasons which I know inspire so many people to do so today. The involvement that I had with politics up until then as a young person as well as my engagement with my local community had convinced me that I could give it a fair crack representing my community, and it was something that I enjoyed doing then and I love doing now.

And so I did for a little over five years represent the area covering Altona Meadows, in which I was born and bred, and then later the neighbouring suburbs of Seabrook and Laverton as well, and that occurred when the single wards were demolished and instead we had the multiple wards all coming together, being rolled into one. I remember at that point in time being quite disappointed at the idea that my ward was going to be expanded from 5000 residents up to 15,000 residents, but I was wrong for being apprehensive about it, because it meant that I was afforded the opportunity to speak to more residents and more ratepayers and I had more areas that I could try and improve in our area of Hobsons Bay.

As my good friend the member for Laverton alluded to before, Hobsons Bay City Council is one of the best-of-the-west councils, which I am very proud to be associated with. Today I also deal with Brimbank City Council and Melton City Council, being the member for Kororoit, and I must say that these two councils also work tirelessly and very, very hard. At Hobsons Bay, though, I was a councillor and deputy mayor from 2012 to 2014 under the mayoralty of the formidable Angela Altair, and I must say anyone who knows Hobsons Bay would know of councillor or mayor Altair. She is an incredible woman, an absolute feminist, a mentor and a good friend and somebody who, when I was a young woman in the public spotlight, really took me under her wing, and I will always appreciate that from Cr Altair. I hope that she understands the impact that she had on not only me but also many other young people in Hobsons Bay.

Council was at times challenging, as many of you who have served on council would know, but it was great and rewarding and still a time in my life which I treasure. As many of you would know, there are many personalities on council, but I think that this is something that happens in all aspects of life. I learned so much about how to make change, how to improve people’s everyday lives and how to get real things done. Councillors, as has been alluded to already, are often the first port of call for many residents, and that is a great thing. It is great to think that we can call our local councillors when in need. I learned that council was worth a lot more than just roads, rubbish and rates; that is something I can absolutely attest to. Councillors are the true local advocates and often are not afforded as much respect as they should have. The skills and experience that I acquired there served me so well as a trade unionist in my advocacy for workers and then when I became an official and then state secretary of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union – skills and experience I will forever hold close and dear to my heart and that I am always proud that I have learned.

Local government is something that is incredibly important, and as I said earlier, Brimbank City Council and Melton City Council are the two councils which I deal with regularly now. I am very fortunate to be able to meet with the mayors, councillors and CEOs of both councils on a regular basis. I think in many ways local government can often be referred to as the most important of the three levels of government in our community because they have the power to make so many decisions of consequence, but that is why I know that great power comes with great responsibility. Those who are elected and serve in local government must be accountable to the people at all times. The councils must never be a place where power can be abused and people are shut out, otherwise ‘democracy’ is simply just a word. That is what this legislation is about, full stop.

As we all know, Victoria’s next election for local government will be held in October this year, and I encourage all people of any political persuasion who are keen to represent their community to put their hand up and to also have a crack, because if you care about your community, then you should be running for council. It is not somewhere that you should just be standing as a political activist, it is somewhere that you need to stand if you actually care about your community and want to speak to residents and speak to people within your community and try and make a difference. Good governance is critical to ensuring that councils make decisions. Councillors need to treat each other, staff and residents with absolute respect and dignity, and I welcome this bill, which will help build and educate and assist councils in the best governance for their local government areas.

In conclusion, I want to thank the Minister for Local Government for all the work that has been done. Let me say again, if you are keen to run for council, reach out to somebody who has already done it and run. It is the best thing to do. You will only find out by trying, and if you genuinely want to be there to help uplift other people and your communities, then your contribution and experience is well and truly welcome. Again I thank Melton City Council and also Brimbank City Council for all of the work that they do in the Kororoit electorate. I also thank all councillors out there, mayors and deputy mayors and of course the staff, who really are the backbone of all LGAs. It is important that we introduce this bill so that the councillors are held to higher account and so that our communities can be represented in the best way possible. I know that every member in this place enjoys the time that they get to spend with their local representatives on each of their councils. There are 79 LGAs in the area, and it is very important that we treat each and every one of them with respect.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.