Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Melbourne City Council

Tim READ (Brunswick) (19:12): (737) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Local Government. One person, one vote: this is the foundation of our modern democracy. That is what you would think, unless you took the time to look into the way council elections are run in the City of Melbourne. Then you might have to amend that catchy slogan to ‘One business, two votes’, or perhaps the less concise but still accurate ‘International business owners have more say in Melbourne’s elected representation than do the people who actually live here, so some well-heeled mayoral candidates have spent more time flying around courting votes overseas than taking the time to find out what really matters to Melburnians’. But I guess that last one would not fit onto a bumper sticker.

In the City of Melbourne both resident and nonresident ratepayers – in other words, landlords – get a vote, and businesses are not just required to vote but in fact get two votes each. According to Ben Rowley, writing in the Guardian, the combination of nonresident property owners and double-voting businesses means that local Melbourne residents cast only about 40 per cent of the vote. How is that for representative democracy? As is the case with so many unfortunate quirks in the way Victoria operates today, we have Jeff Kennett to thank for the undemocratic nature of Melbourne City Council elections. An excellent Inside Story article describes how John Cain’s Labor government made a weak attempt to democratise the council, but Jeff Kennett came in and not only cemented the ‘Two votes for business’ model we see today but also engaged in some US-style gerrymandering of the Melbourne city boundaries to ensure that council elections were skewed heavily toward said businesses. Melbourne City Council themselves have repeatedly asked the state government to fix their undemocratic elections by reviewing the City of Melbourne Act 2001. Most recently, in 2022, the councillors unanimously passed a motion urging the local government minister to respond to their request.

We often hear that the core business of councils is the three Rs – roads, rates and rubbish – but I would say that misses out on a pretty important R: residents. Residents are the ones who actually live here. They want safer streets for bikes and walking. They want to enjoy green spaces, like parks and gardens and even a greener Melbourne General Cemetery – why not? Residents want to make sure their waste and recycling systems are up to scratch and to generally have a real say in shaping the city where they choose to live, and in a modern democracy it does not seem too much to ask.

Minister, the action I seek is for the government to fix this undemocratic system by returning to the principle of one person, one vote and legislating an end to the practice of businesses and absentee landlords voting in City of Melbourne elections.