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How local councillors would be made to pay for bad behaviour
By Max Maddison
Misbehaving councillors would face fines, suspensions or disqualification from public office under a proposed suite of reforms aimed at streamlining accountability and instilling transparency in local government.
The reforms, part of a 20-page discussion paper released by the Office of Local Government on Thursday, also seek to ensure opaque council decision-making processes are returned to the public gaze by limiting the use of closed-door meetings and briefing sessions.
The proposal comes on the eve of the local government elections and after councils have been dogged by scandals, including Cumberland, where ratepayers spent $147,908 in a year to deal with 84 code of conduct complaints. No breaches were ultimately found.
The reforms aim to simplify the code of conduct, reducing it from 100 pages to two or three and bringing it in line with those in state and federal parliament. Behavioural concerns would be referred to a state panel of experienced councillors to judge their peers.
The proposed reforms seek to introduce more stringent disclosure requirements for councillors’ pecuniary interests, in line with the expectations of NSW MPs.
The discussion paper said the Minns government was drafting legislation that would redefine the role of developers and real estate agents in local government. It noted that an outright ban was unfeasible because it “infringes the right to political free speech implied” by the Constitution.
For councillors, there would be three tests for alleged misbehaviour: any unbecoming conduct, bringing the council into disrepute, or behaviour “assessed as being outside the norms and expectations of a sitting councillor”.
A privileges committee comprised of experienced mayors and ex-mayors from across NSW would determine the test of appropriate behaviour.
Penalties could include censure, warnings, loss of sitting fees and referral to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal for suspension or disqualification from the council.
Data provided as part of the report found 4289 complaints over the three years preceding 2022–23. Of these, fewer than 20 had resulted in serious repercussions of varying degrees for offending councillors.
Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig said the current code of conduct system was “fundamentally broken” and “too open to weaponisation” for political purposes.
Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig has released a suite of reforms aimed at instilling accountability back into councils.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
“The options presented in this discussion paper put the onus back on addressing and resolving issues of councillor misbehaviour at a local level rather than escalating complaints for the state government or private investigators to fix,” he said.
“For far too long, the system has been abused. It’s time to restore public confidence in councils and ensure the dignity of this vital third tier of government is upheld.”
The discussion paper criticised the Office of Local Government over a lack of clarity about its role as sector regulator, unreasonable delays in resolving matters, and overly focusing on individual behaviour, which detracted from addressing “important financial and government concerns”.
Too often, the process underpinning OLG investigations was “cumbersome, with multiple feedback loops”, and serious sanctions only came via suspensions handed down by NCAT.
Consultation is open until November 15.
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