Administrative bungle voids Brisbane City Council meeting, forces 26 councillors to be re-sworn in
Furious Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner says a firm conversation was had with an outgoing executive after a bungle forced council’s first meeting after the election to be declared void and all 26 councillors had to be re-sworn in.
QLD Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
An administrative bungle at Queensland’s largest local government has rendered its first meeting after the election void and forced all 26 councillors to be re-sworn in.
A furious Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has dubbed the bungle an “inexcusable mistake” and confirmed firm conversations were had with outgoing council chief executive Colin Jensen.
Brisbane City Council’s 26 councillors held their first meeting since the election on April 9 and were sworn-in, but an administrative error meant the way it was done did not meet the rules.
Mr Jensen, in a letter on Friday, explained the declaration of office read out by each councillor from a certificate prepared for them did not include the words “and the code of conduct for Councillors under the Local Government Act 2009”.
It means each will need to be sworn-in a second time and also repeat all parts of the first council meeting to validate all the decisions they made.
Mr Jensen, in a letter to councillors, apologised for the error and the inconvenience caused.
He proposed arranging a time over the phone to “retake the Declaration of Office as soon as possible”.
Councillors will need to reconvene their meeting on April 16 at 1pm. The agenda will kick off from “where the formal decision of Council commenced”.
“As I am sure you will all agree, whilst this is inconvenient, it is a necessary step to ensure that all decision making within the organisation is free from arguments around validity,” Mr Jensen said.
Cr Schrinner said councillors had every right to be frustrated that the administrative error occurred.
“This is an inexcusable mistake and I have expressed my profound disappointment to the CEO,” he said.
BCC Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy took a swipe at the “Schrinner Administration” for the administrative error.
“The day that Councillors are sworn in is where our work can really begin, so it’s frustrating it wasn’t actually official. It also raises concerns that decisions have been made by the Lord Mayor and his Civic Cabinet that are not valid,” he said.
Deputy Premier Cameron Dick said the error “terribly embarrassing”.
‘55,000 seats, seriously? How about 85,000 so it lasts?’
The Albion Olympic Park team has put forward a proposal to build a 45,000 to 55,000 seat stadium with a simple architecture to save money, but not everyone likes the idea. WHAT YOU SAID
From Las Vegas to Bris Vegas, bed tax a pretty good idea
If Queensland is to have any chance of reducing state debt and delivering necessary services, it must look at different ways of raising revenue, writes the editor.