Opposition MPs have demanded answers on why the State Government has installed municipal monitors to oversee Kingston Council.
The Government appointed John Tanner AM and a second monitor until the end of 2025 to provide “good governance and support for council’s decision-making procedures”.
Liberal MP Ann-Marie Hermans told Parliament on 28 August she wanted assurance that the move wasn’t a “political tool” used to “silence great councillors and steamroll contentious planning issues”.
“Monitors interventions like this are supposed to be justified.
“They must be transparent and grounded in evidence.
“But I have not seen any explanation of why these newly created positions are justified, because I am pretty certain it is not to support the local community.”
The monitors’ announcement came days after a large public gathering against development at Rossdale golf course – a development opposed by Kingston Council.
Similarly Kingston and residents have opposed a 941-dwelling proposal on the former Kingswood golf course, Hermans noted.
In Parliament, Liberal Bev McArthur accused Local Government Minister Nick Staikos of “covertly weaponizing” his portfolio to “seize control of councils that refuse to toe the Labor Party line”.
She said Kingston, which overlapped Staikos’s Bentleigh electorate, appeared “well run” and “to not require the minister’s so-called assistance”.
“Their crime is: opposing cost shifting and opposing inappropriate development and what constitutes insufficient infrastructure.”
On 22 August, Local Government Minister Nick Staikos said “Victorians expect their councils to maintain a high standard of processes and practices, and these monitors will help the council best serve the Kingston community.”
The monitors would address issues such as conflicts-of-interest, health-and-safety practices, the relationship between councillors and between councillors and council officers, and decision-making processes, according to the Government.
