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New minister refuses
to talk, Geelong Victoria's new Local Government
Minister has refused to say whether he will
reconsider a return to single-councillor
wards in Geelong, despite the system being
blamed for some of the dysfunction that led
to the council’s 2016 sacking. The City of Greater Geelong will
move to a single-councillor ward structure
from 2024, due to the Local Government Act
2020 championed by Mr Leane’s predecessor. It comes despite an independent
commission of inquiry report into Geelong
council finding the single-member ward
system contributed to the dysfunction at
City Hall that resulted in the State Labor
Government sacking the city council in 2016,
and replacing it with administrators for 18
months. Mr Leane did not respond to the
Geelong Advertiser’s questions over the past
week, instead providing comments from an
unnamed government spokesperson. “The new ward system is the result
of a four-year review of the Local
Government Act and was developed through
rigorous consultation with councils, peak
bodies and the community,” the spokesperson
said. “The wide-ranging reforms in the
new Act will improve democracy,
accountability and service delivery across
Victoria’s 79 councils.” Opposition local government
spokesman Tim Smith said he supported
single-member ward councils, but questioned
whether the system’s use in Geelong had been
properly considered by the Government. “The Government is all over the
place at the moment; they’re in a state of
chaos and panic,” Mr Smith said. “They took
a view about ward structures and alike when
they sacked the council, and then some years
later with a new minister they took a
completely different approach. “Geelong does have some unique
differences, and I just wonder whether or
not Labor has taken them into account.” Mr Smith said the Local Government
Minister’s refusal to respond to questions
about Geelong’s ward structure suggested he
didn’t have “any great confidence that he
knows at all what he’s talking about with
these matters”. The Proportional Representation
Society of Australia’s Victorian branch has
labelled the move to single member wards
“the single most backward step in true
democratic representation in local
government in many years”. Branch secretary Geoffrey Goode
said the group believed multi-member wards
were better able to serve their communities,
and if single councillor wards were kept
they would be “a monument to Somyurek”. “And it’s not a good monument,” Mr
Goode said.
01 July 2020, Page 5, by
Harrison Tippet
New frontbencher Shaun Leane was
promoted to replace dumped local government
minister Adem Somyurek in mid-June, but has
refused to respond to questions regarding
Geelong’s ward structure.
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