New policy sparks walkout

By Melissa Meehan
A COUNCILLOR walked out of Monday night’s Greater Dandenong Council meeting, in protest at a new accessibility, transparency and accountability charter proposed by the mayor.
Cr Peter Brown said he walked out in “anger and disbelief” refusing to “jump through hoops” for mayor Pinar Yesil.
The fallout from Monday night’s council meeting continued on Tuesday, with Cr Brown still angered by the decision.
During the council meeting he spoke against a motion from Cr Yesil that a report be prepared and presented at the next council meeting with an objective of making the mayor and councillors more accessible, transparent and accountable to the community.
The new policy sets high standards in relation to councillors reporting to the community on their activities, pecuniary interests and community involvement, including their attendances at functions.
“I have no problem with benchmarks the mayor wants to set herself,” Cr Brown said. “But she can’t expect councillors to jump through these hoops.”
He said he was disappointed that the motion worked around the media, asking councillors to report their appointments each week before the council meetings.
“I am not a slave to the media,” he said. “I am a slave to the community, not to those employed by newspapers.”
When the motion went to a vote, Cr Brown said he was disappointed with the outcome.
“I walked out because some of the councillors who voted for the motion had spoken to me privately and told me they were not happy with the motion,” he said. “They only voted for it to support Pinar. I’m still angry.”
His main concern was the specification that the mayor and councillors display all declaration of interests on the City of Greater Dandenong website.
He said he still felt the motion was “a bit rich” considering members of state and federal politics were not forced to publicly identify such information.
He forwarded an email to Star noting that a register of interests is required by law for politicians (as with councillors) but making them public was a breach of privacy and could contravene Victorian law.
Cr Yesil replied through email, noting that although she did not make reference to Victorian State Parliament there were moves afoot to introduce similar laws.
“I was referring to the South Australian parliament,” she said. “A Federal MP’s register of interests is available from the Prime Minister down.”
At the meeting Cr Yesil challenged councillors to stand with her on the platform of future governance.
“I have a continuing expectation of myself and my colleagues as councillors,” she said. “I am aware that change is never easy and that the natural reaction is to resist.
“But I believe we will thrive in the new culture if implemented.”