Council hears community views on Local Government Act

THE Surf Coast Shire council has received feedback from the community on the first part of the revised Local Government Act.

The Local Government Act 2020 was passed by the Victorian Parliament in March 2020. The act will be rolled out in four stages and is set to be fully in place by July 2021.

The first of these stages included the draft Governance Rules, Local Law No. 2 – Common Seal and Miscellaneous Penalties, and the Public Transparency Policy.

All these documents were placed on public exhibition.

The council received 15 public submissions, some from community groups but the majority from individual and joint submitters.

A recurring theme among submitters who both supported and opposed the draft was the desire for greater transparency from council.

Sue O’Shanassy spoke on behalf of the 3228 Residents Association (3228RA) at the council’s submissions hearing. She said the association was concerned councillors were being deterred from communicating openly with the community.

“We speak from the perspective of community and believe the transparency has slowly been eroded over recent years, and that trend needs to be reversed.

“Councillors are elected to be the voice of the community and as such should be able to freely interact with individuals and community groups including at council meetings.

“We believe councillors are currently deterred from interaction that isn’t in the presence of a council officer.”

3228RA, along with another submitter, stated they would like the draft Governance Rules revised to require the council to release its agenda for coming meetings earlier.

The draft Governance Rules require an agenda to be released “at least 48 hours before a council meeting”.

Multiple submitters, including Surf Coast Hinterland Group Incorporated, also suggested there should be greater flexibility with public question time during council meetings.

The draft Governance Rules limit a member of the public to two questions per person for each meeting, and that questions must be “no greater than 200 words in length, inclusive of any supporting or contextual information”.

The council will discuss the revised Local Government Act further at their August 25 meeting.