By Sahar Foladi
Greater Dandenong councillors have slammed a move to close the public out of council meeting debates on major projects.
At a council meeting on Monday 8 July, councillors Rhonda Garad and Tim Dark stood to oppose going ’in-camera’ to discuss two of the council’s major capital projects, Dandenong Community Hub and Dandenong Wellbeing Centre Procurement Update.
While residents sat in the gallery on the night holding up signs in support of the Dandenong Community Hub, Cr Garad pointed out the council increasingly going in-camera in recent months.
“The public are the key stakeholder in council. To continually go in camera, which we seem to be doing more often. To hide our decision making is a backward step,” Cr Garad said at the meeting.
Councillor Tim Dark echoed Cr Garad on the “record amount of times” council has gone in camera.
“At the end of the day the decision of council is no doubt because some councillors want to vote and kill off this project and don’t have the guts to do it in public view. That is just a fact.
“The issue at hand is this is public money.
“Every single dollar that the council spends and receives is public money, it comes from the ratepayers, taxpayers,” he said.
“Decisions made behind closed doors do not work in the best interest of those who pay the rates.”
Greater Dandenong chief executive officer Jacqui Weatherill says it’s important for community members to have access to transparent discussions on decisions affecting them.
“As such, council meetings are open to the public to attend in person and live streamed to ensure they are accessible by as many residents as possible.
“The Local Government Act allows for Council to close a meeting to the public when: (a) the meeting is to consider confidential information; or (b) security reasons; or (c) it is necessary to do so to enable the meeting to proceed in an orderly manner.”
Three resolutions were made in a closed meeting in 2022-23 and three resolutions were made in a closed meeting in 2023-24 (yet to be formally confirmed in financial year reporting).
This is compared to one resolution in a closed council meeting in 2020-21 and zero resolutions in closed meetings in 2021-22.
Councillor Bob Milkovic says while he’s not in favour of closed meetings in principle, he understands why it’s necessary in some circumstances.
“I do understand the merit in this situation as to why certain items needed to be discussed in-camera and its not to hide it from public, it’s purely to protect the financial interest of the council.
“If there was a way around it, I would’ve preferred it but, in some instances, when we talk about the commercial side of things, it needs to be not in public.
“I’m happy for anyone to call me and ask me how I voted in-camera. I’m happy to tell them which way my vote went so people can make up their minds and base their opinion based on truth.”
Dandenong Community Association (DCA) spokesperson Silvia Mastrogiovanni pointed out no other communities had to deal with an in-camera situation during the phase of other hub developments.
“It’s a public building, from the public purse, for the public. All the other towns had public input – Keysborough South had lots of community input – and nobody said they had to go in-camera.
“They can go in-camera for the confidential parts, but they don’t have to go in-camera and hide things from the very people who pay for the facility who will use it.
“It’s a community building and they leave out the community. The others didn’t get left out, but we do.”
Councillors are expected to speak to the deferred item at the next council meeting (22 July) and determine whether a “revision of the concept design” for the Dandenong Community Hub will go ahead.
