Moonee Valley councillors unable to rule on racecourse plans after taking gifts

Councillors in Melbourne’s northwest have been barred from making decisions on all Moonee Valley Racecourse development plans for three years because they accepted gifts from the developer. This is what will happen instead.

The majority of Moonee Valley’s councillors are barred from making any decisions about developments at Moonee Valley Racecourse because they accepted tickets to the races two years ago. Picture: Michael Klein

Councillors will be banned for three years from making any decisions about the largest development in Moonee Valley history because most of them took gifts from the developer.

Six of nine Moonee Valley councillors were told last year they were unable to vote on a proposed childcare centre on the site of the Moonee Valley Racecourse because they had previously accepted tickets to trackside events.

MORE NEWS:

AVONDALE HEIGHTS SCHOOL ZONE CUTS OF KIDS WITH A RIVER

ASCOT VALE LEISURE CENTRE PORTALOOS AND CLOSED CHANGE ROOMS

WHITTEN OVAL LEAVES DISABLED IN BLISTERING HEAT AND BITING COLD

Councillor Andrea Surace accepted almost $5000 worth of gifts from the racing club since 2016, including two Cox Plate packages worth $2150 and $2140.

Councillor Cam Nation accepted $1900 worth of tickets to race club events and councillors Jim Cusack, Narelle Sharpe, John Sipek and Samantha Byrne each accepted two tickets to Manikato Stakes Day worth $250 each.

Now, it’s too hard to get the three councillors who are still eligible to vote on racecourse plans to be in the same place at the same time.

To achieve a quorum, councillors Rebecca Gauci Maurici, Richard Lawrence and Nicole Marshall have to attend each meeting.

But last week, a public special committee meeting on the second stage of the racecourse’s residential development was cancelled because Cr Marshall was sick.

An artist’s impression of the Dean St apartments in Moonee Ponds.

The meeting would have discussed the second stage of the development that proposes a six-storey residential apartment building with 76 dwellings and a maximum height of 20m at 33 Dean St, Moonee Ponds, which is currently used as a car park.

So at last night’s council meeting, officers recommended modifying its statutory planning protocols so officers could make decisions on all Moonee Valley Racecourse applications instead.

Location of the Dean St apartments.

Cr Gauci Maurici amended the recommendations so councillors could enter into decision-making in 2021 when their conflict of interest no longer applied.

The Local Government Act required declaration of indirect conflicts, including situations where an applicable gift worth $500 or more in total had been received by a councillor, over a five-year period.

Moonee Valley Council chief executive Bryan Lancaster sent a letter to Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek in October last year, seeking an exemption from the conflict-of-interest provision under the Act.

But in February, Mr Somyurek rejected the exemption.

Cr Lawrence agreed that officers should take over the decision-making process.

“This is the largest development in Moonee Valley history,” he said.

“Delays will occur when one councillor cannot attend meetings. Continued delays will only see Moonee Valley Racing Club applying to VCAT for timely decisions and to leave the council at the mercy of those members.”

But Cr Jim Cusack disagreed.

“I appreciate the reasoning behind this is to try and achieve a quorum. But I don’t believe we should we making this a permanent arrangement.

“I honestly believe … we need to inject the councillors back into this to ensure the community voice is really heard and I worry that this is being sidestepped.”

The recommendations passed 4-2 with Cr Gauci Maurici’s amendment.

[e-mail]