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, and that was back in 2016, and since that time we have seen a large number of councils with serious issues with 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 report of the 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.