THE Local Government Inspectorate has decided that the Local Government Act was not breached when the previous Kingston Council awarded a grant to a community group linked to a sitting councillor.
A grant awarded to the Druze Community Charity of Victoria by Kingston Council prior to the 2024 local government elections has been put under the microscope this year. Cr Hadi Saab sat on the committee of the Druze group at the time the grant was approved – the two-term councillor declared a conflict of interest and recused himself before the vote took place.
In March this year, Kingston Council voted to refer the decision to the Local Government Inspectorate for investigation (“Bullying allegations aired in council meeting” The News 2/4/2025). A “Kingston Grants Review Working Group Report” prepared for Kingston councillors and released last week has revealed that the LGI will not be taking action on the matter.
The report read that “the process regarding the awarding of grants relating to the June 2024 Council meeting was referred to the Local Government Inspectorate on 16 May 2025. On 21 July 2025, the LGI advised that as no breach of the Local Government Act 2020 was identified, no further action will be taken in relation to the matter.”
Cr Saab said he is “pleased” that the Local Government Inspectorate “found there were no issues at all with Kingston’s grant allocations, which is what I was saying all along and why I was always supportive of this review.”
“I did question the grounds of this but I am glad we can now put to bed this review that seemed to be targeting support for multicultural community groups,” he said. “I will continue to advocate for local community groups while strictly upholding the grants process as I always have.”
While voting to refer the grants to the Inspectorate, Kingston councillors also agreed to “establish a working group of the mayor, deputy mayor and two councillors to review issues and make recommendations to improve governance in relation to grants, conflicts of interest and other matters”. That working group has met four times, and made nine recommendations which were scheduled to be considered at Kingston Council’s 27 October meeting.
The recommendations included making “grants fraud control training” mandatory for councillors and staff, reviewing the Kingston Grants Program Policy to include “misuse of position provisions”, establishing a declaration process for councillors regarding major grant streams to ensure “that councillors with a conflict of interest have not engaged in lobbying/influencing other councillors or officers”, and establishing a formal process for councillors seeking assistance with amendments and alternate motions.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 29 October 2025