The state government wants to change the way you vote for your local representatives - but not a single Ballarat councillor has welcomed the idea.
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The plans - outlined in a new Local Government Bill - include a proposed reform to re-shape wards to have just one elected councillor.
However, councillors across the political spectrum in Ballarat expressed concerns that such a reform would encourage a more inward-looking local government - and potentially open the door to corruption.
Currently the City of Ballarat Council has three wards, each represented by three councillors, with a total of nine elected local representatives.
Of the eight councillors The Courier was able to contact yesterday, all were sceptical of the reforms - although some said they would need more time to go through the detail.
The Mayor Samantha McIntosh said the current set-up allowed greater councillor involvement and helped collaboration across the city. The existing system allows "integrated responses" across different portfolios, she said.
Several councillors said having a single councillor would encourage parochialism - a "my ward, my patch" approach, as Councillor Belinda Coates said. Councillor Amy Johnson recalled that reforms from single to multi-member wards were due to councillors often only showing interest in their own electorate.
Cr Coates also pointed towards the removal of the single councillor system in New South Wales, which she said had encouraged corruption - and the disbanding of Geelong's council in 2016, when that council also had a one councillor per ward system.
She said the Local Government Bill as it stands "would be like going back 20 years."
Some commentators suggested that in single-councillor wards it would be easier for developers to influence councillors.
Councillor Grant Tillett said reforms would not allow councillors to advocate properly on behalf of the community. "Three councillors would never handle the workload," he said. Deputy Mayor Jim Rinaldi said the current proposals had "no clarity".
"It won't help the community," he added.
However, the state local government minister Adem Somyurek says the reforms would make local democracy more "accountable, democratic and responsive."
The [Local Government Bill] won't lead us to a better governance model
- Councillor Mark Harris
Other proposals include simplifying enrolments for voters, giving councillors and candidates training and introducing new limits on campaign donations.
One councillor privately said it looked like a "cookie-cutter approach" designed for Melbourne councils and being imposed on the regions.
Cr Ben Taylor also queried the proposal to train councillors. Would that apply to councillors who had been representing the community for 20 years, he wondered.
Other aspects of the proposed also came under fire. Councillor Mark Harris said the act did not seem well thought through, describing it as "tinkering around the edges" for reforms that were needed.
"[The Bill] won't lead us to a better governance model," he told The Courier.
For Councillor Daniel Moloney, the bill does not address a more fundamental issue of encouraging a more diverse crowd of people to become councillors.
Depending on the progress of the bill, it may come into force next year, but it is not yet clear if it would affect Ballarat council elections in spring next year.
- The proposals are currently out for a short time for feedback, including to the general public, until July 12. See www.localgovernment.vic.gov.au for full details.
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