Councillor flags watchdog referral over borough’s adoption of revised community vision

A BOROUGH of Queenscliffe councillor has pledged to refer her own council to the Local Government Inspectorate, alleging the process it followed in adopting its new community vision is a breach of its legislative requirements.

At a tense meeting on Wednesday last week, Cr Isabelle Tolhurst criticised her fellow councillors for skirting the borough’s community engagement and public transparency policies to push through significant changes to the vision, without explaining how these revisions had been informed by feedback from local residents.

She suggested elements of the original vision that the majority of the more than 400 survey respondents had indicated were important had been removed.

“This should be a unifying moment for council with its community, but it cannot be with a process like that, and I really feel the hurt in the room tonight at that reality,” Cr Tolhurst said.

“I think it makes a mockery of the community’s good faith engagement and becomes hypocrisy when set against the rewritten vision to state the council’s requirement to act transparently and that we are always placing the needs of the community first.”

Many of her concerns were echoed by borough residents during the public question section of the meeting, with several urging the vote be deferred.

Chief among them was the removal of reference to climate change mitigation, with one resident questioning if the move pre-empted a decision to withdraw support and resources for the borough’s Climate Emergency Response Plan (CERP).

It follows the council’s decision in June to undertake a review of the CERP to better understand the document’s “financial and practical” implications. This review is still under way.

“Change is okay, but process and substantiation of change in-line with our policies and the law matter. We are all beholden to that,” Cr Tolhurst said.

“If this community vision is adopted tonight through the process as presented, and on the recommendation of the Municipal Association of Victoria, I will make a referral to the Local Government Inspectorate as a breach under the Act.

“I encourage community members, if they feel the same, to do the same.”

The revised vision was ultimately endorsed 3-1, with only Cr Tolhurst voting in the negative.

Cr Donnie Grigau said the new vision reflected “who we are and what matters most to the people who call our borough home”, stating it has a “strong sense of place, responsibility and common sense”.

“We are not a municipality that needs grand slogans or vague commitments. What we need and what this vision delivers is clarity, accountability and the focus to get the basics right,” he said.

“The pillars set out in this document are grounded in practical outcomes, not ideology.”

The community vision is used to guide the council’s decision-making and is intended to produce a consistent, long-term vision that successive councils can work toward achieving alongside the community.

Under the Local Government Act, this vision must be reviewed after each general election.