Thursday, 30 October 2025

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (10:06): I want to take this opportunity to voice my deep concern over the appointment of a second municipal monitor to Kingston City Council, which is an extraordinary and heavy-handed move by this Labor government. The Minister for Local Government has now installed two monitors to oversee Kingston council until the end of the year. Why does one council need double supervision and double monitoring to be overseen by this government? The decision to install monitors came just weeks after Kingston council stood with its community in opposing large-scale developments at the Rossdale and Kingswood golf courses, projects the government has either supported or approved. This timing is not coincidental. It appears that whenever a council refuses to toe the Labor Party line, the minister steps in with so-called monitors to keep them in check. Communities like Kingston deserve councils free from political interference, councils that can make planning decisions without fear of government retribution.