Wednesday, 18 June 2025

Hobsons Bay City Council

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:20): (1728) Another month, another monitor. Rather than working cooperatively with councils the Allan Labor government, in true socialist fashion, has forced yet another state-controlled babysitter on Hobsons Bay City Council. My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Local Government, and the action I seek is that the minister meet with the mayor and councillors to explain how this intervention is remotely justifiable.

Minister, I will always call a spade a spade, so here are some facts. In October last year Hobsons Bay held local government elections, and the ratepayers elected councillors, not monitors. Then in January, after councillors became aware of concerns about workplace safety and the former CEO’s fulfilment of his duties, they swiftly suspended him pending further investigation. Soon after, the former CEO resigned. Shamefully, the Local Government Inspectorate failed to inform Hobsons Bay that their previous CEO was under investigation for his involvement in the Rex Theatre scandal at Hepburn Shire Council. They then failed to provide a public report despite repeated calls from across the sector for them to do so.

Minister, why didn’t the Local Government Inspectorate publish this report? Were they muzzled by your government? The government made amendments to the Local Government Act 2020 to enable the Local Government Inspectorate reports to be tabled in this Parliament, so there is no legislative reason to withhold it. Rather than appointing a monitor, this government must come clean as to why this report was never released. Ratepayers deserve to know that their money was not wasted on lining other people’s pockets. And let us not forget, government-appointed monitors cost ratepayers money, not government – money that would be better spent no doubt on numerous other important local services. Local ratepayers deserve transparency and democracy, not more secrecy and state interference.