Conflict is a real concern

Councillor calls on government to reconsider interest changes which are just too exclusive

Written by STEVEN BURKE. - Source: Wangaratta Chronicle

COUNCILLOR Anthony Griffiths is sick of being excluded from important decisions made by the Rural City of Wangaratta.

He is urging council to ask the State Government to reconsider recent changes to the Local Government Act, which force councillors to be excluded from discussions and voting on issues where they have the slightest conflict of interest.

At the most recent council meeting in Edi Upper, Cr Griffiths was forced to excuse himself twice due to a conflict of interest with the matters being debated.

When it came time for council to make the all important decision of whether to impose municipal rates on St John’s Village residents, Cr Griffiths had to be excused because both his wife and mother work at St John’s.

Then later in the meeting, when council was asked whether to grant a planning permit for a subdivision at Oxley, Cr Griffiths had to excuse himself because he is a board member of North East Catchment Management Authority, which had been consulted about the effects of the subdivision.

"Conflict of interest can be good if there is a real conflict of interest but they’ve broadened it to such an extent that if you’ve got any involvement in any division of any description you can’t be involved in any discussion or votes or what have you, hence my absence from the room on two occasions this evening," Cr Griffiths said last week.

He said he was concerned council would get to the point where it couldn’t make a decision, because more than half of the councillors would need to excuse themselves due to a conflict of interest.

"There are a number of councils around Victoria that have items on the table that they can’t deal with because for example, with community grants, if a councillor is on a community group, they can’t be part of the discussion," Cr Griffiths said.

Cr Roberto Paino echoed Cr Griffiths’ concerns.

"The problem is, if four councillors had relatives working at St John’s we’d have no forum," he said.

"I suppose the impact of that can be even greater when a particular councillor’s expertise in relation to the area or issue at hand is lost to council in debate."

Council moved Cr Griffiths’ motion that its officers prepare a brief on the potential impacts of the conflict of interest provisions of the Local Government Act on the decision making processes of council, and investigate the mechanisms available for council to make a decision in situations where a forum cannot be achieved.