Wyndham councillor’s proposed governance change slammed as ‘anti-democratic’

A proposed change to governance laws at a council in Melbourne’s west has been slammed as an “anti-democratic” attempt to silence critics.

A councillor in Melbourne’s west has blasted proposed changes to governance laws as an “anti-democratic” attempt to silence critics.

At Wyndham City’s ordinary council meeting on February 22, councillor Robert Szatkowski proposed an amendment to the draft governance rules to increase the number of councillors required to call a special meeting from three to four.

Speaking in support of the amendment he said Wyndham had one of the lowest requirements across Victoria for councillors to call a special meeting.

“Councils range from not allowing any councillors to call a special meeting, reserving that right for the mayor or CEO, to requiring 60 per cent to call a special meeting,” he said.

“My amendment places council at a ratio of 36 per cent, smack bang in the middle of the majority of councils.”

Cr Robert Szatkowski of Wyndham Council. Picture: Wyndham Council.

Wyndham Council councillor Josh Gilligan. Picture: Wyndham Council.

However councillor Josh Gilligan decried the amendment as an attempt to “silence councillors from being able to engage in their elective roles”.

“I continue to be disappointed by the people around this table that continue to play political games and not focus on the issues that people rightly care about,” he said.

“Not engaging in Putin-style anti-democratic laws as is proposed here.”

He said using the same data collected by Mr Szatkowski, 80 per cent of Victorian councils had determined that three councillors was an appropriate requirement to call a special meeting.

Also speaking against the motion, councillor Mia Shaw referenced legal advice obtained by Wyndham Council she claimed was against increasing the threshold.

“While this is ultimately a matter for council, we caution against setting the ratio too high as this may have unintended consequences and may expose council to criticism if it is seen as locking certain councillors out of the process,” she read from the statement.

Ms Shaw said it was clear the proposed change was directed at three councillors; herself, Mr Gilligan and councillor Heather Marcus who had called three special council meetings over the course of 2021.

“Unfortunately sometimes we sit around this table and need to discuss and debate certain items that might make people uncomfortable or they don’t want to talk about but that‘s the nature of what we do here,” she said.

“I have no doubt thousands of our residents will agree.”

Over the previous year, the three councillors called special meetings to deal with allegations of verbal abuse by a mayor, to call for a Wyndham vaccine hub and to request advice from state authorities once an unvaccinated councillor identified himself.

Wyndham: Council offices

Other councillors spoke in favour of the amendment, including councillor Marcel Mahfoud who said he was “sick and tired” of allegations of block voting on the council.

“What’s been put before us is raising the number of signatures to four, I fully support that and I think it‘s responsible,” he said.

Mr Mahfoud said the requirement of three signatures was introduced more than two decades ago when Wyndham Council only had seven councillors and should change with the times.

The amendment was defeated with Mayor Peter Maynard, Deputy Mayor Jasmine Hill and councillors Sahana Ramesh, Robert Szatkowski and Marcel Mahfoud voting in favour while councillors Adele Hegeditch, Josh Gilligan, Jennie Barrera, Susan McIntyre, Mia Shaw and Heather Marcus voted against.

The substantive motion to note the draft governance rules and engage in a period of community consultation on the changes was passed unanimously.