SURF Coast Shire councillor Heather Wellington is continuing her campaign for more transparency from her own council, saying that the shire is refusing an order by the Victoria Information Commissioner to release one of two documents that she requested under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Cr Wellington made an FOI request for the \u201ctwo secret documents used by the shire to make a planning decision\u201d, which was rejected by the shire.<\/p>\n
It is unclear what either of the two documents are.<\/p>\n
Cr Wellington said the shire was refusing to comply with the Information Commissioner\u2019s decision that one of the documents was wrongly withheld and should have been released.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe shire is refusing to release the document to me on the basis of a technical legal point, arguing that the Information Commissioner\u2019s decision was invalid because it took longer than the period of time allowed in the FOI Act to make it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, I have received preliminary advice from a Queen\u2019s Counsel that the shire\u2019s technical legal point is highly dubious and the only avenue to test it is to apply to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cannot explain this bizarre conduct by the shire and I strongly object to it wasting ratepayers\u2019 money on legal fees, especially when the money is used to come up with contentious legal technicalities to stop ratepayers seeing a document that should have been made public in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the other hand, I am deeply committed to acting in the public interest \u2013 and I believe the public interest is for Surf Coast Shire to end the secrecy, give councillors and ratepayers appropriate access to information, and start behaving in a more open, transparent and accountable way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cr Wellington has made an application to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) for release of the second document and said she \u201cwould not shy away from applying to the Supreme Court\u201d regarding the first document, and would pay her own legal fees to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SURF Coast Shire councillor Heather Wellington is continuing her campaign for more transparency from her own council, saying that the shire is refusing an order by the Victoria Information Commissioner to release one of two documents that she requested under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation. Earlier this year, Cr Wellington made an FOI request for […]<\/p>\n