Conflict chaos over new laws

Jessica Benton
A chaotic budget meeting has led to Geelong councillors slamming new State Government laws forcing them to declare any potential conflicts of interest.
Councillor Jan Farrell described the meeting as “a Monty Python show” after councillors repeatedly left council chambers during Tuesday night’s meeting to comply with the laws.
Councillors had to leave the chambers for numerous votes after declaring conflicts of interest related to various budget projects.
Councillors listed conflicts of interest including family members’ associations with sports clubs and community groups nominated for council funding or with members or executives of clubs.
Councillors also absented themselves from votes because they were on various boards and committees that benefited from council funding.
Most councillors left multiple times, with Bruce Harwood absenting himself from about half a dozen votes.
State Government expanded conflict-of-interest regulations late last year after a statewide review, saying the new laws were an attempt to clean-up council processes.
Cr Jan Farrell, who absented herself from at least five votes, slammed the new laws.
“State Government has got this so wrong,” she said. “It’s making us councillors look ridiculous.”
Cr Farrell said the new laws would impact particularly hard on smaller municipalities where councillors would be more likely to have associations with sport clubs and community groups.
Cr Andrew Katos said it was “ridiculous” to expect councillors to declare whether they would in the future use a community facility that is up for funding in their ward.
Mayor John Mitchell said the conflict-of-interest laws were “so broad” they made voting difficult.
“It does make a little bit of a mockery of the whole situation. While it’s not an ideal situation, we’ll soldier on.”
Cr Harwood said councillors were seeking legal advice over the conflict-of-interest issue.