Even this early out from the election, my office is preparing and planning for the election period ahead.  

My team is liaising with the local government election team at the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) to ensure that the elections held are fair, transparent and in line with the various legislation that governs them.

Between now until after the election period the LGI will release regular fact sheets relating to election issues and matters surrounding the role of a councillor.  We hope these fact sheets will provide some guidance and information to assist candidates, councillors and council officers during this period.

As busy as we are expecting 2024 to be, we reflect on a very busy 2023 for our office.

During 2023, we completed or assessed 477 complaints, which resulted in a range of outcomes:

• no breach of the Act being identified
• official warnings for breaches of a provision of the Act
• one prosecution for a breach of the Misuse of Position provisions. 

A number of recommendations were made to councillors to undertake training and reacquaint themselves with specific sections of the Act, along with recommendations to councils to review their policies and procedures.

My staff attended many councils during the year for investigations and compliance reviews, along with a number of presentations to councils relating to the role of the LGI and issues that have come to our attention.

The mammoth task of undertaking the Councillor Conduct Framework Examination has been an important and timely exercise as the conduct of councillors has increasingly been of concern to the LGI and the wider Local Government sector.  I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the sector, and peak bodies, for engaging with this project through our online surveys and conversations.

A more detailed outline of the examination is included in this newsletter.

Michael Stefanovic AM
Chief Municipal Inspector

The findings of IBAC’s Operation Sandon investigation have been long awaited and we welcome the recommendations made around improving council governance and transparency in decision making.

The LGI has already commenced work on reviewing the efficacy of the Councillor Conduct Framework introduced by the Local Government Act 2020 (the Act) and managed by the Principal Councillor Conduct Registrar’s Office.

The work we are undertaking around reviewing how the existing councillor conduct framework can be enhanced to help CEOs and councillors address behavioural standards and managing conflict of interests can be fed into the implementation of IBAC’s recommendations, should they be accepted by the Government.

Adopting a minimum standard for councillor behaviour and the operation of council meetings across the State through standard codes and rules, along with broader penalties for breaching the Act to deter misconduct and increase accountability for individual councillors would, the LGI believes, help address many of the issues it finds through its investigation work.

Many of the complaints we receive relate to councillor conduct and behaviour. Any action to clarify expectations as to how councillors need to behave and operate, along with strengthening the penalty framework for misconduct would be part of the solution of strengthening good governance across the sector.

We would also welcome the opportunity to be involved in the recommended Taskforce[1] should the Government wish to implement this recommendation.

The Act introduced major changes to remove councils from formally handling misconduct allegations and councillor disputes in house, replacing it with a centralised system overseen by the Principal Councillor Conduct Registrar (PCCR).

In 2021, Local Government Victoria (LGV) engaged Price Waterhouse Coopers to undertake the Local Government Culture Project (Culture Project).  Sector feedback highlighted the need to review the way councillor disputes and allegations of misconduct were managed under this new system.

Three years on from the introduction of this new conduct framework, the LGI wishes to progress the work undertaken through the Culture Project to measure if the current system is providing the efficient, cost effective and timely resolution to councillor conduct matters it was designed to deliver. 

Sector engagement

Broad engagement with the sector is underway, which has already included:

• Ongoing conversations with LGV and the PCCR’s office;
• 1:1 conversations with professionals involved in the conduct framework processes;
• completion of three online surveys for Councillors, CEOs and Councillor Conduct Officers, with over 300 responses received;
• ongoing meetings LGV, the PCCR’s office and peak bodies representing local government;
• twenty-eight 1:1 conversations with Mayors, Councillors, CEOs and Councillor Conduct Officers who offered to provide more detailed feedback; and
• meetings with all interstate equivalents of LGV to talk through their models and recent reviews undertaken to further improve their conduct frameworks. 

The response rate to our online surveys can be summarised as follows:

Respondents were asked what type of council they represented, which showed that there was a fairly even representation from all council types:

Research 

We are working with the PCCR’s office to understand the number of requests for internal arbitration and councillor conduct panels, how many proceed through the formal process, the time taken for a determination to be made and why some applications are rejected. 

Councils are also being asked to voluntarily provide information as to the costs they incur when a councillor is involved in a formal process under the Act.

Stakeholder Working Group

It is imperative that the local government sector be involved in the development of alternative options and models for the management of councillor conduct.

The CMI has invited representatives from the peak bodies, a CEO, Councillor Conduct Officer and legal sector representative to participate in a Stakeholder Working Group, which will meet between March and May.  LGV and the PCCR’s office have offered to provide technical support as required.

The Stakeholder Working Group will review the information gathered by the LGI through its engagement and research processes and assist with the development of options for an enhanced conduct framework. 

Updates on the progress of this project will be posted on our website and through our quarterly newsletters.

The Local Government Act 2020 saw the introduction of new requirements around an election period policy, which now must form part of council’s Governance Rules under section 69.

As our attention starts to turn to election preparations, it is a good time for councils to reflect how their election period policy worked during the 2020 election period.

Some important things to think about include what were the unexpected issues you faced during the election period that you need to address and what feedback did you have from councillors and staff about your policy’s guidance to them during that time?  

The landscape in which we operate has changed and the last election saw the rise of the use of social media for campaigns, largely due to the Covid 19 pandemic.  This presented challenges for the sector, but it is expected that four years down the track the use of social media for campaigning will only ramp up.  We encourage you to think about whether adequate guidance is provided in your current policy.

As always, the use of council resources by sitting councillor seeking re-election is a key challenge during the election period.  It is essential that councils ensure that resources such as ICT equipment, staff, events/consultation, media (including social media accounts) and publications are not used in any way that is intended or likely to influence voting. 

In the coming months we will review election period policies and update the sample council policy resources on our website to provide the sector with examples that address the key governance issues that the Inspectorate has identified in previous reviews.  

As a reminder, Governance Rules can only be updated under section 60(4) after a process of community engagement is undertaken. Your community engagement policy will provide guidance as to what level of engagement is required.

An election period policy must prohibit any decision that would enable the use of council’s resources in a way that is likely to, or intended to, influence voting - namely:

• any council decision that relates to the appointment or remuneration of the CEO (this excludes Acting CEO arrangements)
• commits council to expenditure exceeding 1% of the last financial year’s revenue from rates, municipal charges and service charges
• decisions that could reasonably be deferred until after the election
• any other decision that council believes should not be made during the election period.

Clear messages were provided by councillors, CEOs, Councillor Conduct Officers and peak bodies about the mandatory candidate training module rolled out for the 2020 election cycle through our councillor conduct framework sector engagement processes.

We recognise that it was a challenge to prepare an online training module, particularly during times of lockdowns due to the Covid 19 pandemic, however the feedback we received was that the candidate training could be improved.

The LGI has had recent discussions with LGV around their intentions for a review of the mandatory candidate training program in the lead up to the October 2024 election cycle. 

Given the election is in the not-too-distant future, LGV were receptive to hearing our thoughts.

The Project Team made a decision to suspended our work on the conduct framework review to enable us to provide preliminary recommendations to LGV about the mandatory training, which we believe should be called a ‘Candidate Awareness Program’, along with extensive draft content for their consideration.

The final report on the Councillor Conduct Framework examination will include recommendations around the candidate awareness training, however in an effort to influence what is rolled out for the 2024 election cycle, it was imperative to provide preliminary recommendations now.

Key aspects of our recommendations around a revised mandatory awareness program include:

• dividing the candidate awareness training into several modules to provide a deeper understanding of what councils do and what it means to be a councillor
• supporting the mandatory online module with mandatory attendance at regional, face-to-face sessions 
• requiring all candidates to attend at least two council meetings, one of which should relate to the council budget development/adoption, within 12 months of Election Day 
• inclusion of case studies to provide ‘real life’ examples of the issues councillors face, which may include links to council meetings to highlight good practice
• mandatory reviews of the candidate awareness program after every election cycle
• review of the 2-year window currently available to complete the online mandatory training given the likelihood of changes to legislation and issues closer to Election Day (we believe completion within 6 months of Nomination Day is more appropriate).

The content we have developed, which would form the basis of a broader program, is divided into the following parts:

• Overview of what it means to be a councillor – eligibility criteria, what councils do, role of a councillor, competencies candidates need to be effective councillors, role of the mayor, role of the CEO, role of council staff
• Councillor Conduct – behaviour and conduct standards, councillor conduct framework, penalties for misconduct/serious misconduct/gross misconduct, confidentiality
• Personal Interests – conflict of interests, personal interest returns, election campaign donations, transparency and accountability mechanisms under the Act
• Decision Making – decision making powers of council, information provided to councillors to inform decisions, delegation of powers to officers, how council meetings operate, council as a planning authority/responsible authority
• Legislation and Policies – key legislation, council policies (including mandatory policies required under the Act), including a timetable of key policies/strategies that council must prepare and adopt in the first 12 months of office
• Support for Councillors – allowances and support from the administration
• What else candidates need to know – steep learning curve for the first 12 months, the importance of strong relationships/ within and between the councillor group and the CEO/Executive, the types of documents that councillors need to review and understand, ongoing professional development opportunities
• Where can candidates learn more – links to LGV, MAV, VLGA and RCV websites, along with a list of key documents candidates should look for on their council’s website.

LGI has also made recommendations that the eligibility criteria should be revised to add:

• A mandatory requirement to attend at least 2 council meetings in person, one of which should relate to the preparation/adoption of the annual council budget (to address concerns raised by the sector that many new councillors in 2020 had no knowledge of how council meetings operated and had not attended a meeting before).
• A National Police check (to address issues relating to suitability for office raised through the matters we have investigated over this council term and the need to improve the integrity/suitability of the Act).

Councils should also be turning their minds to developing a comprehensive councillor induction program well before the October elections. 

Section 32 states CEOs are responsible for ensuring:

• induction training is available from the day councillors take the oath/affirmation of office
• providing reasonable assistance to enable councillors to access induction training either virtually or in person
• councillors make a written declaration that is signed and dated before them that they have completed the induction training and
• all requirements of Regulation 6 of the Local Government (Governance and Integrity) Regulations 2020 are met.

Regulation 6(2) sets out the matters that must be covered by the induction program, although we acknowledge that councils cover many more topics.

Our induction handy hints

Through our investigations and governance examinations, we have received feedback that the following steps may optimise councillor induction and an improved understanding of their roles and responsibilities:

• development of a Councillor Manual that identifies things such as key personnel, key council documents, FAQs and contact details for peak bodies, Ministers and government departments (both State and Federal)
• facilitated workshops with key staff to help build strong relationships, understanding and constructive working relationships soon after the election
• development of an ongoing good governance program that supports continued councillor education throughout their 4 year term
• holding ‘mock’ council meetings soon after the election to aid councillor understanding of your council’s Governance Rules and how meetings run
• providing the Mayor with a detailed script/running sheet for the first few council meetings
• Mayoral induction program focussing on conflict management, relationship building and leadership; and undertaking a ‘guided tour’ of key sites and projects to prompt discussion around prominent issues and develop a councillor’s understanding of the broader municipality rather than just one ward so that they can effectively govern for the entire community.

Please note that all councils have a multitude of policies and procedures that require review by council and so this list is not exhaustive.

Plans and strategies required under other Acts

All levels of government are subject to tight fiscal environments and the LGI is no exception.  We often hear frustrations from the sector and the community around our ability to respond to all complaints quickly and the low level of prosecutions over recent times.  

To prosecute a matter, we require evidence which is sustainable and has a sound chance of success to the substantial financial costs and officer time, as well as ensuring that the outcome will send a positive example to the sector.

Below is a structure chart for the LGI, which demonstrates why we must triage and prioritise complaints carefully and why it may take a bit of time to resolve investigations. 

What is important to note, however, is that we will never refuse to receive complaints or say that we do not have the capacity to review a matter.  Please be assured that the LGI will always look at complaints and investigate matters as soon as our case load and resources enable us to do so.

The Principal Councillor Conduct Registrar’s Office is also presenting to the CCOs the same day.

We look forward to meeting with the CCOs face to face.