Victorian Premier John Brumby has proposed a new amendment to the local government act. This amendment would effectively prevent any councillor who has ever expressed an opinion on an issue, from ever voting on anything relating to that issue.

The following information is from State Green’s MLC Greg Barber:

A proposed law before the State Parliament will clip the wings of any active citizen who runs for local council, by making it a ‘conflict of interest’ to vote on any matter on which they previously made a submission.

It is due to be voted on this coming Tuesday (28th) in the upper house and to stop it, you must urgently lobby the Liberal and National parties to vote for the Greens’ amendments.

Do you know anyone who is running for Council in the elections this November?

Are they active in a number of local community groups which are trying to convince governments to take action in their area?

Are they the sort of person who regularly attends Council meetings or writes submissions, until one day they got so fed up they decided to stand for council?

This is a law against those people.

It’s a law to discourage them from running, or to knock them out of voting if they are elected.

What’s wrong with this provision?

Councillors already have a responsibility to act in an ‘unbiased’ manner when dealing with certain types of decisions - such as applications for planning permits. This obligation arises out of common law and is well described in a government publication Ensuring Unbiased Democratic Council Decision Making (see link below).

The Government’s proposed new law goes much, much further.

Councillors can be banned from voting on any Council matter if they have previously chosen to:

(ii) make an objection or submission in relation to the matter.
* It doesn’t have to be a submission you made to the Council you are running for. If you made a submission to a state government review, your Council forming its position on the same review could be seen to be the same ‘matter’.

* It’s irrelevant what you said in your submission, whether for, against or neutral on a proposal. Writing the submission automatically gives you a conflict of interest.

* It doesn’t have to be a personal submission. You could be an office bearer of a group or other entity and be held responsible for the submission your group made.

Example: Katherine is a local councillor and also the Treasurer of the local Landcare group, who wrote a submission to the Minister for Water on a proposal to declare certain wetlands as protected. Later, the Minister writes to Katherine’s council asking them for their position on the matter. Katherine can’t vote.

* It could be a verbal submission you made by speaking at a council meeting. It doesn’t matter what you said, because the only necessary action is that you made a submission.

* It’s retrospective. Any submission you made in the past could knock you out of voting at any time on the future.

Example: Ian made a submission to his council’s proposed by-law on footpath trading rules. Some time later he is elected to council. Five years after the law was first created, Council considers running a review of the law. Councillor Ian can’t even vote on whether or not to review the law because he made a submission on the original version.

* It also applies to councillors attending briefings from staff members, not just formal council decision making meetings.

* It also applies to any Council employee who exercises powers under delegation.

If this Bill is passed, it will not lead to clarification of the law, it will create massive confusion. Elected Councillors face a breach of the Conflict of Interest provisions and fines if someone digs up a submission they wrote, possibly years ago.

It’s unnecessary. Existing legal provisions and guidelines cover this area. Clarifying the law is one thing, massively expanding its reach is another.

Please take action today by writing to the Liberal and National Leaders ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au AND peter.ryan@parliament.vic.gov.au and ask them to support the Greens amendments (see below) when the Bill comes to the Upper House.

Cheers,

Greg Barber MLC

Local Government Amendment (Councillor Conduct and Other Matters) Bill 2008

Section 78D

Indirect interest as a consequence of becoming an interested party

A person has an indirect interest in a matter if the person has become an interested party in the matter by—

(a) initiating civil proceedings in relation to the matter or becoming a party to civil proceedings in relation to the matter; or

(b) exercising a right under the common law, an Act or regulation to—

(i) lodge an appeal in relation to the matter; or

(ii) make an objection or submission in relation to the matter. [The Greens propose to delete this last line]

You can find the whole of the Local Government Amendment (Councillor Conduct and Other Matters) Bill 2008 at:
[link]

Ensuring Unbiased Democratic Council Decision Making:
[link]

If this amendment is passed, it would prevent a great number of people currently seeking election to Wodonga council from ever playing an active role in the council decision making process.

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