Hobsons Bay – 9 July 2024
By Dr. Josie Vine
If you’re trying to catch up on the shenanigans of Hobsons Bay Council over the last month or so, you’ll be pushing the proverbial uphill.
While the minutes and livestream pages from June 11 meeting are not easily accessible, they can be found if you know where to look:
The minutes are at: https://www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/files/assets/public/v/1/documents/council-meetings/2024/06-11-june/2024-06-11-unconfirmed-council-minutes.pdf
And the livestream is at: https://webcast.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/archive/video24-0611.php
But if they disappear in the next few days you can find them at Council Watch Victoria’s facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cwvic/videos/hobsons-bay-city-council-is-literally-in-a-governance-mess-we-have-watched-this-/1205715564134888
And, of course, you can ask Rates Roads and Rubbish, because we were there.
Looking at the June 11 minutes – before they were removed from council website – we can deduce that council may be a mite bit touchy over its Complaints Handling Policy. This deduction is derived from the fact that the official record of discussion over the policy has been redacted (again, before it was removed from council website).
The redactions come after Cr Peter Hemphill told the chamber there were “some areas of great concern” in the Complaint Handling Policy.
He said council’s executive team had devised the policy in 2022, but it had “never ever” been ratified by council.
“All policies as we know must be approved by the councillors, particularly if they relate to the governance of the council,” he said.
Cr Hemphill said a 2023 adjudication over a ratepayer complaint against a councillor (who Rates Roads and Rubbish will not name for legal reasons) had been dismissed under the policy guidelines but had, paradoxically, later been upheld under Internal Arbitration guidelines.
“Which set off alarm bells in my mind,” he said.
Cr Hemphill said he had “made a complaint” about the governance and poor advice in the Chamber in May, and “questioned” why council was “not seeing any action”.
“I’ve made a number of complaints, and I’ve gone through all the official channels, some of them have been going for three months now, and going nowhere,” he said. “Why can’t I get responses to some very serious questions about governance.”
By last month’s meeting, the official minutes and live-stream of the above discussion had not only been redacted, but also removed from Council’s website.
Come time to ratify these minutes in the June 25 meeting, Cr Tony Briffa moved to defer them until the July 9 meeting.
When Cr Kellander asked why the deferral was necessary, Cr Briffa said:
“I’m happy as per governance rules for the vote to be put.”
So now we get to last month’s meeting, where the official record of Cr Hemphill’s complaints were to be made public. Again, council voted to defer the ratification of the minutes.
Cr Kellander asked how much ratepayer money had been spent on legal advice on the publication of discussion over council’s unratified Complaints Handling Policy.
Corporate Services Director Andrew McLeod said legal costs were so far $1200. He said more legal advice would be sought on redactions before the minutes came before council this month.
Brimbank – 16 July 2024
By Dr. Josie Vine
Standing orders were brought to a halt at July’s Brimbank Council meeting, to allow formal apologies from Crs Virginia Tachos and Maria Kerr, after Internal Arbitration reports found they had engaged in ‘misconduct’ during meetings last year.
Last October’s meeting saw Cr Maria Kerr walk out over a proposal to hold regular informal meetings where the public could talk freely with elected representatives.
Then, the November meeting had to be reconvened because six members (including Crs Tachos and Kerr) did not attend and council was unable to form a quorum.
Crs Tachos and Kerr were moving to establish informal monthly face-to-face and unscripted public meetings with councillors. The motion was voted down and, instead, a report into holding quarterly online meetings was carried.
In the subsequent tabled Internal Arbitration report, Arbiter Sarah Fowler found that Cr Tachos had engaged in ‘misconduct’ by referring to her fellow Councillors as ‘rats’ and by calling the Mayor ‘shallow’, as well as bringing ‘discredit’ to council through social media.
“I was very deeply distressed in November 2023,” Cr Tachos told July’s meeting. “But now, looking back, I appreciate I should have handled things differently.”
In the second Internal Arbitration report, Arbiter Meredith Gibbs found that Cr Kerr had breached standards of conduct when she made comments in the November meeting and had walked out of the October meeting.
Cr Kerr said she had left the October council meeting while it was in progress because she was suffering an anxiety attack.
“I offer my unreserved apology for engaging in misconduct,” Cr Kerr told council. After two-and-a-half minutes of listing her misdemeanours, Cr Kerr concluded: “God bless Brimbank council.”
Deputy Mayor, Cr Jae Papalia said council was working towards improving its “collective performance”.
“As your elected councillors we have recognised we have not worked effectively together,” she said. “We sincerely apologise and wish to acknowledge the effect it has had on the council and the community’s trust in us.”
Cr Papalia said council was working together “more collaboratively” to “enhance” its “effectiveness” and to “better serve the community”.
“We are committed to continuing this effort, to listening to the community’s concerns and to making necessary changes to restore confidence in our governance.”
Postal votes for local government elections will be sent out in October.
Wyndham – 23 July 2024
By Jack Sutton RMIT
What started as an uneventful, run-of-the-mill meeting turned into quite the show, with confusion and conflict taking over.
All 13 observers watching on from the seats and talking amongst themselves, seemed disgruntled with displeased faces.
The commotion started as soon as talk of the Community Garden and Adopt-a-Park policies ramped up.
Cr Robert Szatkowski was the first to speak on the matter, saying, “It will be extraordinarily productive and encourage local food production.”
Cr Marcel Mahfoud said how much he “loves” these two policies and that Cr Szatkowski had “summed it up” well.
But conflict began when Cr Josh Gilligan informed the chamber that Cr Szatkowski was providing “lip service” and that Cr Szatkowski had previously spoken in favour of state government funding cuts for the community gardens.
He then offered Cr Szatkowski “three minutes” to think about why that was OK.
Cr Szatkowski fired back by saying, “I will address all my comments through the chair as I ought to. I won’t address any councillors directly.” This drew soft laughs from some and caused Cr Gilligan to throw his arms in the air with a scoff.
Cr Heather Marcus chimed in to the debate saying she loved the policy because when compared to community gardens around the country, the local ones were “not great.”
The motion to accept the Community Garden and Adopt-a-Park policies was put to a vote and carried unanimously with one exception; that being Cr Gilligan’s vote
Maribyrnong – 23 June 2024
Ruby Fox, RMIT Journalism
The proposed local response to the State Government’s Victorian Freight Plan caused some consternation in Maribyrnong council last month.
The amended response included the reduction of speed limits on state roads, improved safety at major intersections and a ban on trucks on Williamstown Road.
Cr Simon Crawford said the speed limits would relate to roads such as Barkly Street, and Geelong and Somerville Roads.
“A ban on trucks on Williamstown Road is something the community desperately wants,” he said. “There are a number of intersections that are shockers.”
But Cr Michael Clarke said the amended response had been neither considered by officers, nor finessed in detail.
“I’ve never seen such a terrific opportunity absolutely turned into a train wreck with such remarkable elegance,” he said. “If we’re gunna do this, can we do it with some credibility … this is the greatest example of amateur hour I have seen in four years.”
Cr Sarah Carter said the proposed amended response was “just grandstanding”, while Cr Anthony Tran described it as “undercooked”.
The amended response was scissored down to a ban on trucks on Williamstown Road, which was passed unanimously.
Question time was preoccupied with a cat problem.
Council urged a cat curfew, but was also waiting on the outcome of a State Government grant to provide “a free de-sexing program”.
Acting Director Francesca O’Brien said council sought “to reunite lost cats with their owners”, and hoped to formalise community cat rescue teams under the next Domestic Animal Plan. She said there would be an education program to keep the community aware of council law and animal management officers will ensure a safe community.
Council unanimously agreed on its fair access policy, including getting more women involved in community sport.
Cr Clarke said many clubs simply don’t have amenities for women, such as change rooms, to provide an equal experience. She said if council was “fair dinkum” about ensuring inclusivity then it needed the facilities “to allow this”.
Cr Clarke said “understanding the needs of women has been a long time coming,” but “we need not just change facilities and opportunities for women to undertake these sports, but we actually need the sporting facilities themselves to be available”.
Cr Carter seconded these statements, admitting that while facilities were important, when it comes to coaching and managing young girls teams “we need to be ensuring that those leadership positions are also held by women”, because “you can’t be what you can’t see”.
Council also addressed the matter of “food inequality”, as Cr Jorge Jorquera put it.
Cr Bernadette Thomas said, “food is a basic human right and certainly a basic human need”, yet so many “are having to go without food to make mortgage and rent payments”. With “emergency food relief programs becoming overwhelmed”, Cr Thomas said Council planned to “help people to have access to food themself or have support in other ways by various levels of government” and other “groups and initiative”.
A Council is only as good as the people who get involved!
Hobsons Bay City Council
13pm Tuesday 9 August
at the Hobsons Bay Civic Centre. The meeting will also be live streamed.
Maribyrnong City Council
6.30pm Tuesday 20 August
at Council Chamber, Braybrook Community Hub, 107–139 Churchill Avenue.
Brimbank City Council
7pm Tuesday 20 August
at Council Chamber, 301 Hampshire Rd, Sunshine.
Wyndham City Council
6pm Tuesday 23 July
at Council Chamber, Wyndham Civic Centre, 45 Princes Highway.
