{"id":419,"date":"2007-12-07T04:38:25","date_gmt":"2007-12-06T18:38:25","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"localgovernementministersackscouncillors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/2007\/12\/07\/localgovernementministersackscouncillors\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Governement Minister sacks councillors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Local Government Minister Richard Wynne has sacked 3 councillors from the Colac Otway Shire, because they walked out of a council meeting.<\/p>\n<p>This will be of interest to many SOS members, who have asked me why certain councillors aren&#8217;t sacked, given the issues &#8211; including the possibility of corruption &#8211; they have with them. <\/p>\n<p>I believe we should be very careful about sacking an elected representative, otherwise the majority can act against the minority &#8211; who may be the ones effectively representing local residents.<\/p>\n<p>But if the Minister IS going to sack council members, it should <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>be on the basis of a open and transparent policy<\/li>\n<li>be consistently applied <\/li>\n<li>be subject to appeal by the councillor<\/li>\n<li>be independent of the political party the councillor is a member of.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Therefor, the email I have just sent Richard Wynne is <\/p>\n<p>Dear Mr Wynne<\/p>\n<p>Given your recent sacking of three councillors from the Colac Otway Shire, could you please tell me<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>what is your policy on sacking councillors &#8211; ie how are you going to decide which ones to sack? Exactly what is the criteria? <\/li>\n<li>what appeal process are you going to put in place, if any, that councillors can access?<\/li>\n<li>are you prepared to sack ALP councillors?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I will post the response up on this web site.<\/p>\n<p>Ian Quick<\/p>\n<p><strong>The media release<\/strong><br \/>\n<em><\/p>\n<p>Media contact: Fiona Macrae 0412 693 182 or 9651 5799 www.vic.gov.au<br \/>\nMedia release From the Minister for Local Government<br \/>\nFriday, 7 December, 2007<br \/>\nTHREE COUNCILLORS REMOVED FROM COLAC OTWAY SHIRE<br \/>\nCOUNCIL<br \/>\nLocal Government Minister Richard Wynne has acted to remove three councillors from the Colac<br \/>\nOtway Shire Council due to their failure to comply with the Local Government Act 1989 and<br \/>\nattend a full \u201cCall of the Council\u201d meeting.<br \/>\nMr Wynne said the decision was made following a series of actions relating to the councillors\u2019<br \/>\nattendance at meetings of Colac Otway Shire Council in late October.<br \/>\nHe said all three councillors had walked out of a special meeting convened as a \u2018Call of the<br \/>\nCouncil\u2019 \u2013 a procedure specified by the Act which requires all councillors to attend.<br \/>\n\u201cThe three councillors attended the meeting initially, but left the meeting before its conclusion,\u201d<br \/>\nMr Wynne said.<br \/>\n\u201cWhist I understand that councillors can feel passionate about matters that arise in council<br \/>\nbusiness, the most basic duty of a councillor is to govern and to vote on matters. Unfortunately<br \/>\nthe councillors involved did not fulfil that duty and have left me with no alternative but to remove<br \/>\nthem.<br \/>\n\u201cIf councillors fail to remain at a \u201cCall of the Council\u201d meeting, the council\u2019s Chief Executive<br \/>\nOfficer is required by the Act to write to the Minister for Local Government, which was done.<br \/>\n\u201cIn response, as also required by the Act, I wrote to each of the three councillors involved and<br \/>\nasked them to show cause why I should not make an order that they are incapable of remaining<br \/>\na councillor.<br \/>\n\u201cAfter considering each response, I have decided that their reasons for walking out of the<br \/>\nmeeting were not satisfactory and therefore I have made orders under the Local Government<br \/>\nAct 1989 that they are incapable of remaining councillors of the Colac Otway Shire.\u201d<br \/>\nThe three councillors are Councillors Stuart Hart, Brian Crook and Geoffrey Higgins.<br \/>\nMr Wynne said the orders, under Section 85(6) of the Local Government Act 1989, come into<br \/>\neffect on Friday 7 December 2007.<br \/>\n\u201cAs these three councillors were elected using proportional representation, the vacancies will be<br \/>\nfilled using a count-back process. The vacant positions will be offered to the next remaining<br \/>\ncandidates from the last election who will be automatically elected.<br \/>\n\u201cIn the event that one of the eligible candidates chooses not to accept election, a by-election<br \/>\nwould be required within 100 days.<br \/>\n\u201cOnce the councillors have been replaced, the council will resume normal duties.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Local Government Minister Richard Wynne has sacked 3 councillors from the Colac Otway Shire, because they walked out of a council meeting.<\/p>\n<p>This will be of interest to many SOS members, who have asked me why certain councillors aren&#8217;t sacked, given the issues &#8211; including the possibility of corruption &#8211; they have with them. <\/p>\n<p>I believe we should be very careful about sacking an elected representative, otherwise the majority can act against the minority &#8211; who may be the ones effectively representing local residents.<\/p>\n<p>But if the Minister IS going to sack council members, it should <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>be on the basis of a open and transparent policy<\/li>\n<li>be consistently applied <\/li>\n<li>be subject to appeal by the councillor<\/li>\n<li>be independent of the political party the councillor is a member of.<\/li>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Therefor, the email I have just sent Richard Wynne is <\/p>\n<p>Dear Mr Wynne<\/p>\n<p>Given your recent sacking of three councillors from the Colac Otway Shire, could you please tell me<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>what is your policy on sacking councillors &#8211; ie how are you going to decide which ones to sack? Exactly what is the criteria? <\/li>\n<li>what appeal process are you going to put in place, if any, that councillors can access?<\/li>\n<li>are you prepared to sack ALP councillors?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I will post the response up on this web site.<\/p>\n<p>Ian Quick<\/p>\n<p><strong>The media release<\/strong><br \/>\n<em><\/p>\n<p>Media contact: Fiona Macrae 0412 693 182 or 9651 5799 www.vic.gov.au<br \/>\nMedia release From the Minister for Local Government<br \/>\nFriday, 7 December, 2007<br \/>\nTHREE COUNCILLORS REMOVED FROM COLAC OTWAY SHIRE<br \/>\nCOUNCIL<br \/>\nLocal Government Minister Richard Wynne has acted to remove three councillors from the Colac<br \/>\nOtway Shire Council due to their failure to comply with the Local Government Act 1989 and<br \/>\nattend a full \u201cCall of the Council\u201d meeting.<br \/>\nMr Wynne said the decision was made following a series of actions relating to the councillors\u2019<br \/>\nattendance at meetings of Colac Otway Shire Council in late October.<br \/>\nHe said all three councillors had walked out of a special meeting convened as a \u2018Call of the<br \/>\nCouncil\u2019 \u2013 a procedure specified by the Act which requires all councillors to attend.<br \/>\n\u201cThe three councillors attended the meeting initially, but left the meeting before its conclusion,\u201d<br \/>\nMr Wynne said.<br \/>\n\u201cWhist I understand that councillors can feel passionate about matters that arise in council<br \/>\nbusiness, the most basic duty of a councillor is to govern and to vote on matters. Unfortunately<br \/>\nthe councillors involved did not fulfil that duty and have left me with no alternative but to remove<br \/>\nthem.<br \/>\n\u201cIf councillors fail to remain at a \u201cCall of the Council\u201d meeting, the council\u2019s Chief Executive<br \/>\nOfficer is required by the Act to write to the Minister for Local Government, which was done.<br \/>\n\u201cIn response, as also required by the Act, I wrote to each of the three councillors involved and<br \/>\nasked them to show cause why I should not make an order that they are incapable of remaining<br \/>\na councillor.<br \/>\n\u201cAfter considering each response, I have decided that their reasons for walking out of the<br \/>\nmeeting were not satisfactory and therefore I have made orders under the Local Government<br \/>\nAct 1989 that they are incapable of remaining councillors of the Colac Otway Shire.\u201d<br \/>\nThe three councillors are Councillors Stuart Hart, Brian Crook and Geoffrey Higgins.<br \/>\nMr Wynne said the orders, under Section 85(6) of the Local Government Act 1989, come into<br \/>\neffect on Friday 7 December 2007.<br \/>\n\u201cAs these three councillors were elected using proportional representation, the vacancies will be<br \/>\nfilled using a count-back process. The vacant positions will be offered to the next remaining<br \/>\ncandidates from the last election who will be automatically elected.<br \/>\n\u201cIn the event that one of the eligible candidates chooses not to accept election, a by-election<br \/>\nwould be required within 100 days.<br \/>\n\u201cOnce the councillors have been replaced, the council will resume normal duties.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-council-22","category-statepolitics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sos.asn.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}