By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Councillor Peter Brown’s Supreme Court bid to be allowed to stand in October’s council election has failed.
In a hastily-convened Zoom hearing, Supreme Court Justice Tony Cavanough ruled on the matter just minutes before the candidate nomination deadline at noon on Tuesday 22 September.
Meanwhile, Cr Brown was waiting with nomination form at the ready at the Victorian Electoral Commission office in Dandenong.
He had planned to nominate for Noble Park Ward in a head-to-head battle with sitting councillor Sophie Tan.
Justice Cavanough ruled that Cr Brown was not on the electoral roll and so ineligible to stand at the election.
Cr Brown lives in Chelsea but had sought to stand as an owner of property in Noble Park. His name had been submitted to the VEC on the Greater Dandenong Council CEO’s list of property owners eligible to vote.
Victorian Electoral Commissioner lawyer Liam Brown said Cr Brown had owned a different property in Greater Dandenong ahead of the 2016 election, and so needed to re-apply.
Cr Brown’s barrister Joel Silver argued Cr Brown had been serving as a councillor since November 2019 since acquiring the Noble Park property in August 2018.
Mr Silver said that the omission was not Cr Brown’s fault. He was removed from the roll without natural justice or procedural fairness, Mr Silver said.
Cr Brown says he was advised he was on the CEO list on 2 September.
On 10 September, the City of Greater Dandenong received an email from the VEC requesting confirmation of Cr Brown’s bona fides, according to Cr Brown.
But due to “bureaucratic inaction”, Mr Brown was not told of the audit and was removed from the list by the VEC.
“At no stage was I contacted by the (council) Manager … and my enrolment was deleted because of a failure to show cause why I should remain on the roll,” Cr Brown said.
“Something is seriously wrong when a sitting councillor has his entitlement to be a councillor removed by bureaucratic inaction.
“Nor is it remotely tolerable that that person was not informed of the proposed action when legitimately enrolled and moreover is then denied an opportunity to nominate for a general election based on that removal.”
After the hearing, Cr Brown said he was advised he was ineligible as a candidate under “strict liability”.
“But I could only have complied had I known I was required to do so.
“You can’t answer a question when you don’t know it’s being asked.”
His lawyers had advised there was possible grounds for a negligence action or an Ombudsman’s complaint against City of Greater Dandenong, he said.
“It’s either extreme negligence or willful obstruction of my rights. There’s no middle ground on it.”
Cr Brown has served as a councillor for 14 years, including as mayor in 2006.
