SOME councillors across Victoria – including one in Frankston – may be forced to step down next month because they did not sign a code of conduct within a one-month deadline.
The Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate began contacting councils this week to order councillors be effectively sacked on 1 September if they did not sign a revised Local Government Act councillor code of conduct before a state government mandated date of 4 July at the latest.
The Times understands the inspectorate has notified Frankston Council that a Frankston councillor did not sign the amended code, according to their records, before the deadline.
The revised code, introduced by the state government as part of a review of the Local Government Act 1989, discourages councillors from making personal attacks on each other and sets out the process for dealing with bad behaviour.
Frankston Council and the inspectorate declined to confirm whether a Frankston councillor had been caught up in a statewide dragnet to ensure all councillors signed a new code of conduct.
The state government highlighted the changes to the code to all councils in December last year and a reminder was sent in March.
There are no exceptions within the legislation that make allowances for councillors who fail to make a declaration in time.
Council CEO Dennis Hovenden said Frankston Council adopted an amended Councillor Code of Conduct at its public council meeting on 6 June.
“All Frankston City councillors have now signed the document,” he said in a statement.
“The Local Government Inspectorate is auditing each council in Victoria for their compliance under the Local Government Act 1989. Council has provided information to the inspectorate to assist, and we now await the outcome of the audit.”
Mr Hovenden said council would not make any further comment when asked whether any Frankston councillors had not signed the revised code of conduct before the mandated deadline.
“To do so could potentially undermine the integrity of the Local Government Inspectorate audit process currently underway”.
Inspectorate chief municipal inspector David Wolf also provided a statement to The Times.
“The Local Government Investigations and Compliance Inspectorate is the integrity agency for local government in Victoria.
“The inspectorate is currently assessing all 79 Victorian councils for compliance with the councillor code of conduct requirements following recent amendments to the legislation.
“We expect to complete this analysis by 12 August and it is not appropriate to comment on specific cases until this analysis is complete.
“The inspectorate will follow a process to communicate the finding to councils, councillors and the community.”
Some councillors elsewhere, including mayor Cr Graham Pittock at neighbouring Mornington Peninsula Shire, say they did not agree with some of the conduct code changes but believed they had no choice but to sign before the deadline.
It is now an offence for councillors to “malign or criticise” each other “for the manner in which they exercise their vote in council”.
One shire councillor, who did not want to be named for fear of contravening the code, said that particular rule was “unbelievable … it is just appalling … I couldn’t believe it was happening”.
The councillor said the code “is shutting down debate and transparency”.
Despite being stood down, any councillors disqualified from councils from 1 September for not signing the revised code of conduct will be able to nominate to stand as candidates in council elections held on 22 October.
All councillors at Mornington Peninsula Shire and Kingston Council, Frankston’s council neighbours, signed the new code of conduct before deadline.
— with Keith Platt
This article will be published in the 8 July 2016 edition of the Frankston Times
This article was amended from its original version on 5 August 2016 to include a further response from Frankston Council CEO Dennis Hovenden declining to comment about councillors signing the revised code of conduct before the one-month deadline since it could “undermine the integrity” of the Local Government Inspectorate audit process.
