Maroondah City Council on Monday night endorsed a submission to the State Government identifying issues with the Local Government Act’s conflict of interest provisions.
Mayor of Maroondah, Cr Alex Makin, said the submission highlighted Council’s concerns with elements of the provisions, which were established by the State Government in 2008.
“Maroondah City Council has a long-standing and ongoing commitment to serving the community with the highest levels of leadership, with associated standards of good governance and behaviours,” Cr Makin said.
“Conflict of interest laws are an important element of open and transparent governance and are welcomed by Council,” Cr Makin said. “As councillors, we would like the community to know we will always be acting on their behalf and in their best interest – conflict of interest laws are one way of achieving that.”
“However, the provisions set out by the State Government have caused much concern not only at the City of Maroondah, but across the Victorian local government sector,” Cr Makin said.
“Council’s submission on the State Government’s conflict of interest provisions reflects two key concerns – that the exclusion from debate of Councillors with an indirect interest in an agenda item may lead to important information being excluded from that debate; and that an increase in the complexity of the provisions warrants the establishment of a central resource, funded by the State Government, be available to councillors to seek advice on possible conflicts,” Cr Makin said.
“In relation to the first concern, Council strongly believes that councillors should be able to participate within debate on an issue even if they have an indirect interest. Currently, councillors are required to leave the room for both debate and the vote on such matters – previously, they could participate in debate and left only for the vote,” Cr Makin said.
“This would ensure that full information on the issue is available to Council as the councillor with the indirect interest frequently has the most amount of information on an issue,” Cr Makin said. “Secondly, Council is calling for the establishment of a central resource, funded by the State Government, for councillors to seek advice on possible conflicts.”
“Currently, the onus is on councillors to seek their own advice. Given the increasing scrutiny being placed on conflict of interest, and the associated increased complexity, the provision of such a service would be a reasonable step,” Cr Makin said.
Council’s submission was prepared in response to the State Government’s release of a discussion paper on the operational issues relating to conflict of interest provisions detailed under the Local Government Act.