By Luke Voogt
Surf Coast Shire “democracy is at risk” from moves to stifle councillors’ ability to amend motions, according to councillor Heather Wellington.
Cr Wellington’s warning comes after she was denied a request to move an amendment to the council’s proposed code of conduct at a council meeting in February.
In that meeting, Cr Wellington ridiculed the 24-page code’s “sermon” of almost 100 examples of desired and undesired behaviours, which she and other councillors then described as “undemocratic” and stifling media scrutiny.
Cr Wellington has since obtained advice from leading local government law expert Anthony Lang, seen by the Independent, stating she should have been given the opportunity to move her amendment.
A draft of council’s new governance rules, to be exhibited in next Tuesday’s meeting, proposes limiting a councillor’s ability to make amendments to policies drafted by the shire’s administration.
Under the updated rules, councillors can no longer make amendments that “amount to a direct contradiction to any part of the motion, including seeking to change or edit a document, report or policy”.
This would limit councillors’ ability to scrutinise the shire’s administration and govern on behalf of ratepayers “at the expense of our democracy”, Cr Wellington said.
She urged ratepayers to read the draft governance rules and make submissions to council.
Mayor LIbby Stapleton declined to respond to Cr Wellington’s legal advice in relation to the February meeting, but said “councillors have recently reviewed the governance rules with the aim of making them more efficient and clearer.”
“The document needs to be clear so that we spend less time debating the chair’s rulings and more time debating how we achieve the best outcomes for the community,” Cr Stapleton said.
