Council divided on workplace health and safety

Cr Heather Wellington moved a motion at the October 22 meeting to propose alignment of council WHS reporting with quarterly councilor WHS briefing cycle, but also sought to amend the motion. Her concerns centered on the transparency of council’s dealing with

WHS issues. She then amended the motion to try to make it clearer what the councillors’ responsibilities were with WHS matters.

Cr Tony Revell voiced his agreement with the amended motion.

“We do need to receive more than just assurances in matters as important as occupational health and safety,” he said.

However, Cr Wellington’s decision to amend the motion she was passing caused some confusion. While some councillors agreed to the principle of her amendment, others were uncomfortable accepting a motion they had been given little time to consider.

Cr Clive Goldsworthy foreshadowed returning to the original motion, which would in turn cancel out Cr Wellington’s amendments.

He said he felt the original motion had gone through the adequate processes.

“We’ve been through a number of briefings on this… I think there’s far too many words and adjustments in this (amended motion), I want to sit down and understand it more.”

Cr David Bell was similarly uneasy with the process.

“Amending motions on the run as we are doing in this case leads to confusion, and leads to, I think, very poor decision making,” he said.

Cr Brian McKiterick said he was also hesitant to adopt the amended motion, but was sympathetic to both perspectives.

“I appreciate Cr Wellington’s views on the issue, and I can understand Cr Goldsworthy’s views around that as well, so I’d like to have a bit more discussion before I can make a decision.”

In the end four councilors voted for the amended motion, and four against, with mayor Rose Hodge exercising the casting vote against it.

The council then returned to the original motion and unanimously passed it.