Wellington cleared of misusing position over FOI request

A SURF Coast Shire councillor has been cleared of any wrongdoing following an investigation into allegations she misused her position.

Earlier this month, Cr Heather Wellington said she had been advised by the Local Government Inspectorate that there was no evidence she acted improperly when lodging freedom of information requests for two Surf Coast Shire documents to which she said members of the public had been denied access.

“Following a thorough investigation of an allegation that I may have misused my position as a Councillor in breach of section 76D of the Local Government Act 1989, there is no evidence that I acted improperly and no further action by the
Inspectorate is planned.”

She said the investigation stemmed from when she lodged a FOI request.

Ms Wellington said that if prosecuted and convicted of misusing their position, a councillor faces a gaol term of up to five years and/or a fine of up to $96,714.

“I do not know who made this serious allegation against me. I believe only a very limited number of senior shire personnel would have known I had lodged an FOI application.

“I always believed I acted appropriately by lodging the FOI request, and my view has been confirmed by the outcome of the investigation. I was simply exercising my legal right to make an FOI request like any other citizen.”

She said the point of her FOI application was to determine whether the two documents should have been available to the public.

“The Shire denied my application for access to the documents. However, the Victorian Information Commissioner has decided that one document, and part of the second document, should have been released to me by the Shire under FOI. My application regarding the second document is still progressing through the FOI system.

“Now that the complaint against me has been dealt with, I am calling for the chief executive officer to make the shire bureaucracy more open and transparent in the way it deals with both ratepayers and their elected councillors.”