Tuesday, 13 May 2025

Local Government Inspectorate

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (19:20): (1613) My adjournment matter is for the Attorney-General. The action I seek is for the Attorney to outline what steps she will take to strengthen transparency and restore public trust in the reporting of Local Government Inspectorate investigations.

In 2022 Hepburn Shire Council sold Daylesford’s Rex Theatre at a nearly $6 million loss after its redevelopment meant cost blowouts and disputes over the building’s condition and scope of works. It caused considerable concern in the local community because of not just the financial losses but also the serious potential governance failures it exposed. Following a 2019 complaint the Local Government Inspectorate launched a long-running investigation, with a leaked draft report raising serious concerns regarding the role of Hepburn council’s former CEO, who went on to become Hobsons Bay’s CEO in June 2018.

There are numerous calls from across the sector for the official report’s release. Hepburn’s mayor expressed his frustration that a detailed report will not be released, thereby denying transparency and accountability and undermining the community, councillors and council officers. Hobsons Bay’s mayor noted that she wrote to the Attorney about this matter, warning that lack of disclosure exposed her council to ‘significant risk’ and that it ‘undermines public trust’. She highlighted the direct impact on Hobsons Bay’s council, which appointed the CEO in question after his employment by Hepburn shire and in the absence of any information release and continued to employ him until this year. The Municipal Association of Victoria’s president also supports the call for the report’s disclosure, noting that:

Transparency and good governance are essential in local government.

The Local Government Inspectorate has not heeded these calls, claiming there is insufficient evidence to prove to the requisite standard of proof of the commission of any disciplinary breaches or criminal offences contrary to the act. But without the release of detailed findings and with the leaked draft report still casting a long shadow, public confidence remains shaken. While the Attorney may not seek to intervene in individual investigations of the Local Government Inspectorate, their findings should be communicated transparently. The integrity of the oversight system depends on public trust, and presently that is under strain.