Thursday, 18 June 2026

 John LISTER (Werribee) (17:27): (1728) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Local Government. The action I seek is an update on the actions the Allan Labor government is taking to restore confidence in the leadership of Wyndham City Council. It touched a nerve when I last stood in this place and reiterated the concerns of community members about the governance and leadership of Wyndham City Council. If the two former mayors considered it a good use of council resources to publish a press release on the website attempting to draw inferences from my contribution, I think their priorities are misaligned with what ordinary community members want to see, because when I attended the fourth rally calling for the resignation of the Liberal mayor Preet Singh the people I spoke to wanted action, not rambling press releases. I took time before the protest to meet with victim-survivors of sexual abuse to talk about why this disgraceful doubling down is causing real hurt. I want to thank the residents who turned out to share their concerns.

We are in this situation for two reasons: the conduct of former mayor Josh Gilligan, which led to his suspension under the councillor code of conduct, and because of Liberal Party infighting revealing the conduct of Mr Singh before he became a councillor. I have raised residents’ concerns with the leadership and governance of Wyndham City Council in public and in meetings since I was elected. I welcome the appointment of the two monitors who are going to help get to the bottom of the issues there.

I met this afternoon with victim-survivors of abuse to discuss some of the next steps this Labor government is taking: amending the Local Government Act 2020 and our commitment to banning so-called good character references in court. I want to thank them sincerely for their engagement. As I committed at the rally, I am here to listen and share their views, and I look forward to contributing to the debate on these laws when we return. The amendment will empower councils to hold mayors to account who do not perform appropriately in that role. The situation in Wyndham is a mess made by the Liberal Party, by one of their members, and I call on the opposition to support these changes. Finally, I reiterate residents’ concerns: Preet Singh should resign. The law is changing to further hold mayors like him to account.