by Sahar Foladi
Greater Dandenong Council’s attempt to further crack down on council resources being potentially used by incumbent councillors in their election campaigns has been voted down.
A revised policy brought to the council on Monday 12 August set limits to the council’s decision-making during the election caretaker period from 17 September to 26 October to “enhance greater transparency and accountability of Council and council staff”.
More controversially, under the policy, video of council meetings won’t be made available on Greater Dandenong’s website until after the election period has concluded.
Councillor Sean O’Reilly opposed the policy saying councillors’ duties and speeches shouldn’t be minimised during the election period and neither should information to voters be limited “when interest level is generally going to be higher leading up to the election.”
“Some of the measures … would limit the information that voters would have based on current issues and also on what current councillors viewpoints were on those issues.
“I think what Council should be focused on at election time is that voters deserve the most information possible when deciding on which candidate to support and those candidates who may be (incumbent) councillors or not,” he said.
“But if a councillor has said something in a meeting and the voters want to know what is said then they should have the right to access the video webcast … and make their judgement entirely.”
According to a council report, one of the policy’s main functions was to ensure councillors who are candidates at the upcoming election are not advantaged over candidates who are not councillors.
Chief executive Jacqui Weatherill clarified the existence of the video and audio rule in the policy.
“I want to clarify during the election period meetings will be continued to be live streamed as they are at the moment.
“But consensus across most councils is by having them available, some people have chosen to inappropriately cut and paste it into election material. As a consequence they will be posted after the election period.”
Minutes of the meeting would be made available and community members could also attend council meetings during the caretaker period, under the policy.
A majority, if not all, of the councillors are believed to be running for another full term as candidates at the upcoming election including Councillor O’Reilly.
However he pointed out councillors are already responsible for not using council resources under the Local Government Act and that misuse of council webcast will be “subject to sanctions outside this document.”
“Already under the (LGA) councillors are prohibited from misusing or inappropriately making use of their position, without this policy being there.
“A breach can include penalties of up to $120,000 or possible imprisonment. We’re talking about serious penalties if a councillor misuses its position to campaign for themselves.
“You can rest assure that councillors are responsible now as individuals and will be during this election campaign, with or without this highly prescriptive policy.”
Councillors like Phillip Danh, Angela Long and Rhonda Garad were in support of the policy saying it “strikes a good balance” of a “good compromise.”
Councillor Garad had initially opposed the policy in a previous council meeting as it suspended notices of motion, public question time, inwards correspondence and petitions and joint letters but changed her decision as the policy was revised upon community consultation.
The policy was however voted down by a majority of councillors, which Cr Garad found “very unfortunate and unexpected.”
“It gives inappropriate advantage to incumbents over new candidates and we should encourage new candidates to come on board,
“Incumbents shouldn’t have an advantage over new candidates because that’s how you get to stay on council for 20 years and that’s not healthy.
“If you had four years to prove yourself and people didn’t like what you did, that’s it. For six weeks and two council meetings, if that makes or breaks your campaign, then I think you’re in trouble.”
The current election period policy 22 August 2022 also outlines councillors are not to use their position to gain advantage for themselves or any other person.
