A penalty system that could throw councils and councillors out of office without appeal has been suggested by Brimbank’s chief administrator.
In a submission to the current state review of the Local Government Act, John Watson, who chairs the three-member administrative team, called for a points system, much like the demerit system for drivers.
His call comes as councils gain greater powers to deal internally with councillors’ misconduct as part of wide-reaching local government reforms that became law last Tuesday.
Allegations of misconduct and serious misconduct will be handled by independent councillor conduct panels, which can suspend errant councillors for up to six months.
The local government minister can also recommend that a councillor be stood down if their behaviour is threatening, if they hinder council’s ability to operate, if they don’t behave in a manner becoming a councillor, or if they have been accused of serious or gross misconduct and have a legal hearing pending.
But Mr Watson has called for a tougher approach to the disciplinary system.
“At the council level, or individual councillor level, they can lose points,” he said. “If you lose a certain amount of points in a certain period, then the minister acts.
“It’s a bit like the points you lose on the road. You lose so many points, you lose your licence.
“We’ve got a process where there’s conduct panels for councillors, so if through those processes an individual councillor lost so many points, say within 12 months, 24 months, then perhaps they might forfeit their right to sit at the council table.
“And [that’s] not a process that’s subject to appeals. You’ve lost your points, you’ve lost your licence to sit,” he said.
“You could almost do it at a council level, too. If the auditor-general … or the ombudsman says, you lose your points … it might be at a certain point that a council loses its licence.”
Mr Watson said the present review of the Local Government Act was a great opportunity to “not repeat the mistakes of the past”.
