Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (15:30): I rise to speak and make a contribution on the Local Government Legislation Amendment Stronger Communities Bill 2026. The bill specifically seeks to increase the integrity and governance standards of local councils across the state by implementing recommendations from the Operation Sandon report and the Whittlesea commission of inquiry; improving the operation of the Local Government Act 2020; enabling the establishment of a local government fair jobs code and a framework for monitoring and enforcing compliance with the code by council chief executive officers, being the CEOs; and amending the City of Melbourne Act 2001 to increase the ratio between the lowest and highest differential rates for the City of Melbourne.
As someone who served six years in local government, including four years as mayor of Greater Shepparton City Council, I have seen firsthand the importance of ensuring good governance and integrity. Councillors must be held to the highest accountability and expectations. I have also seen the importance of working with the three tiers of government, advocating for your communities and ensuring that state, federal and local government have a really great synergy. I saw the impact that that has on their communities.
It is also worth mentioning, while I think of it, that the Greater Shepparton City Council will be in Parliament House next sitting week, showcasing our amazing region and all the industries and businesses. It is an opportunity to really showcase who we are to the Parliament and visitors coming in during the next sitting week. I encourage everyone in the house to make sure they attend that.
I also understand from local government the opportunities and the challenges that councils can face every day. Local government is the closest level of government to the community. Victorians rightly expect their councils to be well-managed, financially responsible and focused on delivering outcomes for local communities. It is where residents often turn to, and strong communities rely on strong local government. Too often we see disruption in councils and at times councillor issues and behaviours have a significant impact on the council and the broader community.
We must do all that we can to ensure that local government does function well and that those given the privilege of being elected representatives of their communities do so with the highest of integrity and in a respectful way but also that they are supported. It is really important. I did often see firsthand in-house bullying with councillors or breakdowns of relationships. We need to make sure that local government has the measures in place and has the legislation at their fingertips so that that can be managed. It can be a harsh environment when you go into public life, as we all know in this place, but with the role comes an enormous responsibility to the people you serve, something that should never be taken for granted or compromised. Victorians deserve local governments delivering for the people. As we have seen from previous incidents and cases, when governance failures and corruption are brought into the public spotlight, it has a ripple effect on the community and erodes that trust people have in local government and their councillors.
I have two councils in my electorate: Greater Shepparton City Council and Moira Shire Council. With both councils I have a great working relationship. Back in March 2023 the Moira shire councillors were all sacked. At the time this took place there is no doubt there were very serious issues that had to be dealt with and severe consequences. The community will be left without councillor representatives in Moira shire until 2028, another two years away, in line with the next local government elections. This decision has had an enormous impact on the community, and I know firsthand the support that having local councillors on the ground means to the locals. It is with these circumstances and failings that change needs to happen so that this does not happen again.
It is important to acknowledge all the work that the current Moira shire CEO Matt Morgan and the administrators are doing. Having no councillors is a huge gap. I must say that having fly-in administrators who move to a community where they have no connections or history in the town is challenging and also really frustrating for the community. Local government is the level of government, as I have said, closest to the community. The community want to know their local councillors, and they want their local councillors to represent them. There is a reason why we have elected representatives voted in by the people, and it is a shame that the democratic right has been taken away from the people of the Moira shire. It should never get to that, and change is needed.
There was another recent incident where, as we know, municipal monitors were appointed to Wyndham City Council after its former mayor refused to resign despite a unanimous vote of no confidence from fellow councillors. It was clearly a debacle. There needed to be procedures in place that were not there. The community deserved better.
There clearly need to be better processes in place, but we also must have the right protections in place for councillors. The councillor code of conduct has had some serious weaknesses, which during my time in local government I saw firsthand and which caused some significant issues amongst the councillors and the staff. But I do want to acknowledge the many wonderful councillors who do the right thing and who work tirelessly for their communities. We need more suitable people in local government. We need more local community champions that want to come into that space.
A change that did happen in the Greater Shepparton City Council at the last election was that they went to single-member wards, which I feel has not worked well. In two of the wards we only had one candidate, which gave one choice for those wards. Hopefully the result that came from that election will encourage others, because there was a huge amount of feedback, with the community being unhappy with not having choice at that election.
In regard to the bill, both the IBAC’s Operation Sandon in its special report and the Commission of Inquiry into the Whittlesea City Council found a number of deficiencies in council processes. Operation Sandon investigated corrupt conduct involving property developers, councillors and council officers, primarily at the City of Casey. IBAC’s 2022 report made 34 recommendations to strengthen local government integrity and accountability, most of which have already been implemented. The bill implements the remainder, covering mandatory model governance rules, CEO employment arrangements, strengthened conflict-of-interest reporting and enhanced principal councillor conduct registrar reporting. One recommendation not implemented is a ban on political donations. The Whittlesea commission of inquiry, established in 2025 following the return of elected councillors after four years under administration, examined governance, the councillor code of conduct, the CEO role and legislative framework at Whittlesea. It made 17 recommendations, 13 directed at the Victorian government, covering mayoral accountability, councillor code of conduct, CEO arrangements and legislative reform. The government says the bill gives effect to several of these, including the process for declaring a mayoral or deputy mayoral vacancy. New governance rules strengthen CEO arrangements and expand dispute resolution.
We broadly support the governance and integrity reforms arising from Operation Sandon and the Whittlesea commission of inquiry, where they clearly strengthen transparency, accountability and local government. However, several provisions in the bill will only be operationalised by ministerial regulation and risk harming council CEOs, councillors, small business and ratepayers. Chief among these are the local government fair jobs code and regulator, which present a major cost-of-living risk for ratepayers and open the door to weakening the rate-capping regime that protects against rate hikes. The government is establishing the legislative framework for the code and regulator before consulting the sector or realising the regulations it will enforce. CEOs will be responsible for compliance subject to annual assessments, with the regulator able to investigate and publicly name non-compliant CEOs. No independent, sector-wide evidence supports the government’s insecure work rationale. The Municipal Association of Victoria’s survey data across 54 councils shows permanent, ongoing staff average 75 per cent of the workforce, with 92 per cent of councils exceeding national benchmarks for long-serving employees, and existing Commonwealth Fair Work protections already cover job security and casual arrangements. The code could force contracted services back in-house, undermining service delivery in areas like waste and leisure and raising costs for ratepayers while exposing CEOs to public naming for noncompliance they cannot delegate. Regional and rural councils face the sharpest impact, given existing workforce pressures, and consultation to date appears to have favoured unions over local government and industry peak bodies.
Another amendment the bill seeks to enact is regarding the employment and performance management of a council CEO. It is one of the most important decisions that a council can make, and it is incredibly important that councils approach this responsibly with the attention and detail it deserves but also while having the appropriate independent oversight mechanisms in place to support sound decision-making.
Another aspect of the bill I will briefly touch on that I would like to speak to from personal experience is around some amendments the bill makes regarding when a councillor stands for election in this place. Like me, there are often members that have come to this place from local government. I feel that it was a really great grounding before I came into state government. The bill attempts to deal with introducing a requirement for councillors to take leave of absence when nominating for Victorian state elections, something which has been best practice for managing conflicting duties and ensuring that there is a clear separation between the role of a councillor and a candidate.
I did this when I ran for state Parliament four years ago. At the time I was serving as mayor of Greater Shepparton City Council. In announcing my intention to stand for office in this place as the member for Shepparton I resigned as mayor and took a leave of absence, because it was the right thing to do. I really think when you have a conflict as mayor and you are wearing that hat it is difficult to wear two hats. It is important that we have correct measures in place so the council can manage that, because the community have a very high expectation that when a mayor is representing their community they should not be running around campaigning and advocating. They must be very, very clear of their position at that time. I support the amendments to the bill.