New guidelines passed to assist City of Ballarat councillors running in elections have been derided as toothless in the chamber.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Councillors approved a new State and Federal Elections policy at an ordinary council meeting on Wednesday night.
The guidelines state prospective or nominated political candidates who are also councillors must not participate in civic decision-making processes if they are campaigning on a matter before council.
Of the nine current councillors, only Councillor Amy Johnson has declared she is contesting the November state election. She left the council chamber for the item due to a conflict of interest.
All remaining councillors voted in favour of the policy.
Councillor Des Hudson said it was as “useful as a piece of soggy lettuce as a piece of policy”, because there were no repercussions for breaking it.
“I’m disappointed the office of the Local Government Minister hasn’t provided a policy document for councils,” he said.
It's about as useful as a piece of soggy lettuce as a piece of policy ... it’s a weak document, not what can and can’t be done.
- Councillor Des Hudson
Councillor Grant Tillett said prospective candidates could wait until the caretaker period begins to announce their candidacy, and do “what the hell they liked” with their councillor platform in the mean time.
“But Cr Johnson now has a ball and chain around her left leg for the rest of the period until writs are issued,” he said.
Cr Hudson said there was “argy-bargy and semantics” around when a councillor is considered a candidate, but it was already obvious that campaigning had begun.
“If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it’s a duck. We have a councillor who is a candidate in the state election, the election is on,” Cr Hudson said.
The policy states councillors should take a leave of absence when their nomination as a prospective candidate is lodged to the electoral authority. This is considered to be when the caretaker period in a election begins, usually just over 30 days before an election.
Council officers state in the report councillors should avoid campaigning on council issues, to “not be seen as misusing or inappropriately making use of their position”.
Councillor Belinda Coates said there were “potential consequences for us as an entire council” if people were not bringing a “fair and independent mind” to their decision making.
The new policy was modeled off unenforceable guidelines from the Municipal Association of Victoria and Local Government Victoria and is not retrospective.
City of Ballarat CEO Justine Linley said the policy “provides separation”, to ensure candidates do not use their position on council unfairly when campaigning.
