Complaints about local councillors drop 2%: Office of Independent Assessor report finds

Local government politicians could be cleaning up their act, according to the latest annual report by the state’s local government watchdog.

Complaints about local councillors have dropped 2 per cent according to the annual report from the state’s local government watchdog, the OIA. Picture: The Courier-Mail

The state’s local politicians have pulled up their socks – or at least had fewer complaints lodged about them in the past financial year, according to state government data.

The council watchdog, the Office of the Independent Assessor, has revealed a 2 per cent drop in complaints made about elected representatives from the state’s 77 local councils in the 2023/23 financial year.

The OIA’s annual report, released on Thursday, showed there were 878 complaints for 955 separate allegations down from the previous year.

Of the total allegations, 55 per cent were related to alleged misconduct, an increase from 49 per cent in the previous year, while allegations of inappropriate conduct dropped to 38 per cent.

Sixteen per cent of all matters assessed, or 134 complaints, became OIA misconduct investigations, a decrease from 20 per cent of all matters in the previous year.

The OIA dismissed 26 complaints as vexatious, lacking substance, or not made in good faith.

During the year, the OIA commenced one prosecution under section 150AV of the Local Government Act, which governs vexatious complaints, but ultimately decided to discontinue the matter.

The report also showed a shift in where complaints were from with 51 per cent originating from the public, while a massive 41 per cent came from local government officials, indicating a growing awareness and responsibility from within the council sector.

However, self-referrals from councillors dropped significantly to six cases, reflecting a 67 per cent drop from 18 self-referrals in 2022-23.

There were 24 councillors across three councils referred for training, guidance, or intervention.

Of those, 11 were for training and 13 involved actions such as policy reviews or public apologies.

Local government councillors were the subjects of more than 800 complaints over the 2023-2024 year. Picture: Judith Kerr

One concerning trend noted in the report was the rise in anonymous complaints, which accounted for 17 per cent of all submissions in 2023-24.

The figure was a slight increase on the previous year, with the OIA claiming it highlighted a fear of reprisal among individuals, particularly in smaller communities or First Nations councils, where the rate of anonymous complaints was high.

Independent Assessor Bronwyn Blagoev said key reforms over the past two years had improved the councillor complaints system, speeding up processing and unblocking a bottleneck of assessments.

Ms Blagoev said legislative changes removed former councillors from the disciplinary framework and eliminated historic complaints that do not involve corrupt conduct.

For less serious matters, the Assessor can now also recommend training instead of formal disciplinary actions, reducing unnecessary public expenses.

Ms Blagoev said the OIA was now able to assess and resolve 98 per cent of complaints within 21 working days, with average investigation times cut to about three months.

“These reforms have already seen significant improvements to the councillor conduct framework, with the number of matters awaiting determination by the Councillor Conduct Tribunal reducing from 66 on July 1, 2023 to six by June 30, 2024,” Ms Blagoev said.

“No matters were referred to the Councillor Conduct Tribunal and two per cent of matters were referred to local governments to deal with as a conduct breach.”