By Matthew Sims
Cardinia Council has updated its governance rules, joining the State Government’s own reform of its regulations around council governance and integrity standards recently.
The council passed a motion to approve recommended amendments to its governance rules during its meeting on Monday 17 June.
Toomuc Ward councillor Stephanie Davies said the changes included a number of substantive changes, including improvements to public transparency, a gender impact assessment, a Human Rights Charter impact assessment and recommendations put forward in the wake of Operation Sandon.
“We are approaching the end of the term and a new council coming in,“ she said.
“They will have better rules to structure them and to hopefully achieve great outcomes for our shire.“
Beacon Hills Ward councillor Brett Owen said he was in support of the amendments, including for Notices of Motion to be lodged at least 14 days before meeting to allow inclusion in agenda papers, with the current window being two days.
“Dropping a Notice of Motion on a Friday does not prepare councillors to be fully informed on the matters before them,“ he said.
“Councillors may have a weekend to look at the information and make a decision on the Monday.
“I don’t think that’s good governance.“
The State Government passed through reforms to the Local Government Act 2020 to improve governance and integrity standards across the state’s 79 councils ahead of the upcoming elections in October.
Since the last council elections in 2020, 56 councillors have resigned and 12 councils have had municipal monitors appointed and one council suspended and Casey Council dismissed and investigated as part of Operation Sandon.
As a result of the reforms, all councils would have a uniform councillor code of conduct, which all councillors and mayors would be required to undertake mandatory training including annual professional development.
The new reforms also introduced new powers to suspend an individual councillor for up to 12 months and disqualify a person who has been dismissed from a council from standing for 8 years, if a municipal monitor or a Commission of Inquiry has found they have created a serious risk to health and safety at the council or prevented the council from performing its functions.
These powers can only be exercised by the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Local Government Minister.
For more information about the reforms, visit localgovernment.vic.gov.au/council-governance
