Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Councillor conduct

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:13): (1005) My adjournment matter for the Minister for Local Government again concerns the Local Government Act 2020. Last sitting week I noted the political intimidation of conservative councillors in local government. While I thank the minister for her speedy reply, her response, explaining how bullying is serious misconduct, misses the point. Ideological councillors silence their opponents by cynically weaponising complaints procedures. In so doing they are simply following the rules, so they are safe from charges of bullying. Ironically, they often accuse their targets of intimidating others. The intent is what matters. There is no real interest in informal discussion or mediation to improve councillor behaviour. Instead, these ideologues employ cynical ambushes to single out those they disagree with. The new act not only fails to address this problem but worsens it.

Tonight, however, I will go further. The politicisation of local government has accelerated in recent times. Candidates are now frequently political party members, activists and officers. Councillors are not just upstanding local citizens giving public service to their communities, they are political animals, often fighting wider party political or ideological battles. In this context the unprecedented power awarded to the minister to sack individual elected councillors is alarming. What if a minister’s political associate had brought a complaint or a factional ally richly deserved sacking? How can we guarantee fair process with this unprecedented anti-democratic power? We know that with the appointment of council monitors, the minister is anything but open to outlining who asked for them and the detail of why they are appointed, and the process of sacking whole councils has been sprung on this house sometimes with days notice. Do we trust this new process to be more open? Why not leave it in the hands of local voters or, for the most serious cases, VCAT or the courts?

I will end with some examples for Minister Horne. Social media shows her supporting candidate Rayane Hawli for Hobsons Bay, and council declarations show the minister donated $500 to both Ross Alexander in Hobsons Bay and Michael Clarke in Maribyrnong. Minister, is it appropriate that you, as local government minister, endorse local government candidates and support them financially? Isn’t this an obvious conflict of interest? Does your endorsement for a Hobsons Bay candidate break section 287(1) of the Local Government Act 2020 in relation to authorising statements? How many other candidates have you supported financially or provided endorsement for? Minister, the action I seek is an answer to the above questions but also a review of whether it is ever appropriate for politicians to exercise disqualification powers over their political enemies and fund campaigns for their party-political friends?