Wednesday, 12 August 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (19:29): (2684) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Local Government. The action I seek is that the minister adopt the coalition’s proposed amendments to the government’s so-called Local Government Legislation Amendment (Stronger Communities) Bill 2026, as set out in my letter to him. Several weeks ago councillors from Hepburn Shire Council were automatically stood down because of vexatious private prosecutions. Overnight a council was silenced. Meetings could not be held, decisions could not be made and a community was left without the representation it deserved. We have spoken with many of those affected and each of them described the immense personal and reputational toll of this debacle. The previous CEO left after more than seven years in the job. Five councillors were stood down, including one councillor who was out of the job for several months.

Today I received correspondence from the deputy mayor Cr Shirley Cornish, who contacted me in a personal capacity. She wrote of being denied access to any council premises, unable even to visit her local library or the transfer station as a ratepayer. In her own words, she described feeling like a ‘guilty prisoner’ in her own home. While the courts threw out the charges against the five Hepburn councillors, this outcome came only after months of turmoil. It should never have come to this, and it only happened because Labor rushed through changes to the Local Government Act 2020 in 2024, creating a loophole that allowed untested private prosecutions to automatically remove councillors from office. The flawed bill currently before Parliament does nothing to reverse a similar situation while the bill is being debated. There are now rumours that further actions could take place in other parts of the state if this is not urgently resolved. I have personally heard of at least three affected councils. The coalition has proposed sensible, workable amendments and introduced an alternative bill, the Local Government Amendment (Stability of Councils) Bill 2026. One of our provisions retrospectively removes private prosecutions as a trigger, so no councillor can be stood down because of a vexatious private charge from the start of this council term onwards. Minister, adopt our recommendations. The sector supports our bill and our amendments. I urge you to do the same.