Hannah Hammoud
The state government has introduced new reforms to improve council governance and integrity standards to be in place for the new council term, following the local government elections in October.
The reform of the Local Government Act 2020 introduced into parliament on May 1, aims to elevate governance and integrity standards in Victoria’s 79 councils.
Since the last council elections in 2020, 56 councillors have resigned and 11 councils have had municipal monitors appointed, with one council suspended and one dismissed as a result of governance issues.
In February this year, Local Government Minister Melissa Horne announced Janet Dore and Penelope Holloway had been appointed as monitors to Brimbank council until the end of the year. At the time, Ms Horne said assigning monitors had proved to be effective at guiding councils to make improvements in governance to help them better serve their communities.
“The purpose of local government is to serve its community, and the appointment of municipal monitors at Brimbank City Council will help resolve ongoing issues at the council,” Ms Horne said at the time.
The decision came after months of tensions among councillors. As reported by Star Weekly, several councillors failed to attend two council meetings late last year which led to one meeting not being held. Two councillors, Maria Kerr and Virginia Tachos, highlighted feeling unsafe on council.
The new reforms announced on May 1, will provide councils with a uniform councillor code of conduct to create consistent standards of behaviour and increase accountability. A program of mandatory training will also be introduced for councillors and mayors, including annual professional development.
The reforms will also introduce stronger sanctions for councillor misconduct and improved processes to resolve conduct matters earlier. The local government minister will also have strengthened powers to deal with councillors who are putting health and safety at risk or are preventing their council from performing its functions.
Brimbank mayor Ranka Rasic said council welcomes the new reforms which will “help support improved governance, accountability and councillor behaviour across the local government sector.”
“Council is committed to the highest level of ethical conduct and integrity and works in accordance with the Local Government Act and all other applicable legislation that govern our work,” Cr Rasic said.
“This February, we welcomed the appointment of municipal monitors to improve behaviour and governance for our community’s benefit and the councillors and the executive leadership team continue to work closely with the monitors.”
