By Luke Voogt
Geelong council needs a register to prevent developer interference, according to councillor Anthony Aitken.
Cr Aitken proposed a register of meetings between developers and councillors, describing it as “a significant, glaring omission” from council’s new draft transparency policy.
“I think there’s a real opportunity to try – from a Geelong sense anyway – to show some leadership in this issue of transparency,” he said.
The Windermere ward councillor described property developer relationships with councillors and council executives as the “biggest problem in local government” for the past 20 to 25 years.
“Geelong itself has a history of problems with property developer contributions, and election campaign donations, and we’ve actually recently seen the sacking of the City of Casey primarily under that.”
Cr Aitken made the proposal on Tuesday night as council voted unanimously to release the new transparency policy to the public.
“I’ve run my lens over this particular transparency document … and I also encourage the community to run their lens over this particular document,” he said.
“I’ll certainly foreshadow during the public consultation period that I’ll be putting up my own recommendations to the council group.”
In closing Cr Jim Mason acknowledged Cr Aitken’s proposal and welcomed community members having a chance to comment on the policy.
“The essence of this document is alive and well,” he said.
The draft public transparency policy identifies council’s information-sharing commitments, such as publication of meeting minutes, its annual report and register of interests.
The document also outlines how residents can access this information and policies for the protection of security information, commercially-sensitive information and other sensitive information.
“I encourage community members to read through the draft policy and rules and share their thoughts, because the principles and processes in these documents affect the community,” mayor Stephanie Asher said.
“It’s important our community is informed about the council’s decisions and how they are made.”
Deputy mayor Kylie Grzybek said the current council valued good governance processes and transparency in decision-making.
