Independent Commission Against Corruption warns South Australian councils about informal gatherings
ICAC has put councils on notice about using workshops to make decisions that should be debated in public. Hundreds of informal gatherings are held each year, many behind closed doors.
North & North East
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Councils have been warned to stop using workshops to make decisions which should be debated at full meetings.
The Independent Commission Against Commission (ICAC) has expressed concern about informal gatherings in a report it has publicly released into Playford Council.
Deputy commissioner Michael Riches investigated workshops held by the council as part of an evaluation of its policies and procedures.
Mr Riches said there was a “fine line” between using informal gatherings to brief elected members about issues and using them to make decisions.
Data obtained by The Advertiser shows metropolitan Adelaide councils held 425 workshops in the 2018/19 financial year, with 104 closed to the public.
In his report, Mr Riches said he had been told by Playford Council staff that workshops “on occasions are used to get direction from the elected body as to whether they would support, or not support, a particular proposal”.
“Depending upon the sentiments expressed during informal gatherings, the proposal is amended or not pursued,” Mr Riches said.
“It appears to me that an informal gathering is used as a testing ground to determine whether the proposal would receive sufficient support from members if it proceeded to a vote and, if not, how the proposal could be amended to ensure it did receive sufficient support.”
Mr Riches said workshops “inevitably would involve an exchange of questions, answers and views between elected members and the administration”.
“The proposal might then be presented to a council committee (some of which comprise the whole of the elected body) before being voted upon at an ordinary council meeting,” he said.
Mr Riches said Playford staff “thought that, while informal gatherings improved efficiency in council decision making, the consequence appears to be that there is often little by way of deliberation during formal council meetings”.
“That is because the views of the elected body have largely been identified and shared during informal gatherings,” he said.
“Some staff expressed concern that informal gatherings had largely become the forum for deliberating council decisions.”
Mr Riches said this could cause problems because members of the public who had not attended informal gatherings “will not have the benefit of hearing and understanding the discussions that have already ensued in respect of significant council activities”.
“While notice is given of informal gatherings, and some portions of informal gatherings are open to the public, minutes of informal gatherings (if taken) are not published,” he said.
“One cannot publicly access what has been discussed and how those discussions may have influenced proposals.”
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Mr Riches said it was his view that councils “should exercise caution in the way informal gatherings are used to inform proposals that will ultimately be considered in a formal council meeting”.
While not suggesting that informal gatherings should not be held to provide information to elected members, he said councils should not use them to “fish for support or otherwise for a proposal, and tailor a proposal based upon the views expressed by elected members during those gatherings”.
“While it may be a fine line, there is a risk that the council will face an allegation that, in the course of an informal gathering, it was able to effectively obtain a decision on a matter outside of a formal council meeting or committee meeting,” he said.
Mr Riches said this was “expressly prohibited” under the Local Government Act.