A CONTROVERSIAL push to allow Kingston Council’s CEO to veto notices of motion before they enter the council chamber is set for further consideration.
The proposal to consider expanding the CEO’s veto powers was put forward by Cr Chris Hill. His proposed report would consider options to strengthen and clarify the Chief Executive Officer’s powers to reject or require amendment of notices of motion that do not align with the principles and objectives of the Governance Rules, the Local Government Act 2020, or the Model Councillor Code of Conduct. The CEO could also strike down motions which “pose unreasonable legal, reputational, governance workplace health and safety risks; or risk council acting beyond its power or in a manner that may bring council into disrepute.” (“Council considers CEO veto powers” The News 25/2/2026).
The request for a report was approved by a narrow majority of Kingston councillors: Crs Chris Hill, Hadi Saab, Tess Law, Tony Athanasopoulos, Kirralee Ashworth-Collett, and Chris Howe voted in favour, and Crs Sarah O’Donnell, Jane Agirtan, Georgia Erevnidis, and the mayor Georgina Oxley voted against.
Cr Hill’s rationale argued that previously accepted notices of motion had “exposed council to heightened legal, governance, reputational and workplace risks; created foreseeable risks to the health, safety and wellbeing of staff and councillors; resulted in significant negative national media coverage; and has caused reputational damage to the organisation.”
Opposing councillors argued that the proposed change would limit free speech. Cr Agirtan said “the rationale [for this motion] seeks to reference national media coverage that allegedly results from notices of motions. I just wanted to make it clear that in my opinion, that negative media coverage came from a decision of the past council which we are not going to go into, and a failure to meet a deadline in relation to Kingswood. I also wanted to draw Cr Hill’s attention to the fact that his notice of motion we are debating today also resulted in negative media coverage.”
Cr Agirtan referenced a Herald Sun article published earlier that day “where the council is portrayed as trying to silence the debate and limit freedom of speech.”
Cr Hill defended his proposal, saying “if I look back at our most recent ordinary meeting, as we know there were multiple motions that had been accepted within our current rules as they stand which then failed to get a seconder. In my five years on council I’ve not seen this occur previously, so I think we can agree that this in itself suggests there are possible gaps or limitations in the existing rules framework.”
“This motion doesn’t change our rules at this point in time, it simply initiates a structured review process,” he said.
The mayor Georgina Oxley noted that “in general I would support a review of the Governance Rules, but I don’t support the points which review the notice of motion rules and the premise behind that.”
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 4 March 2026