Victoria’s corrupt and badly behaved councillors targeted in inquiry

Corrupt councillors are a “clear and growing problem” in Victoria, with a new push on to end the toxic cultures in local government.

Victoria’s councils have been the subject of four anti-corruption investigations since 2016.

Corrupt and badly behaved councillors are a “clear and growing problem” in Victoria, according to an independent inquiry seeking to end toxic cultures in local government.

The Andrews government has commissioned a wide-ranging review of council behaviour, which has raised concerns of political bias, poor skills and a need for earlier action into misconduct.

A discussion paper has been released and is calling for submissions on how to improve the system.

“There is a clear and growing problem of poor and unacceptable behaviour in certain sections of the local government sector, particularly among some councillors,” the Local Government Culture Project document reads.

“While most councillors behave in a professional manner, there have been many cases of poor councillor behaviour in recent times.

“Between 2016 and 2020, this poor behaviour required the state government to become involved, including four anti-corruption investigations and five councils being ­dismissed. The number of inquiries and recent dismissal of councils is a strong indicator that there is a need for greater early intervention and accountability to discourage poor behaviour by councillors.”

Groups such as the Municipal Association of Victoria and the Australian Services Union will be included in the review.

Changes to existing legislation are among options that could be considered, along with smaller adjustments at a council level.

Local Government Minister Shaun Leane said the government was serious about improving culture in these areas.

“Residents expect their councils to engage in positive practices and cut out negative behaviours,” he said.

“We’re particularly interested in supporting women in local government – those currently serving their community and those who wish to do so in the future – and that will be a significant focus of the Local Government Culture Project.”

The review will examine how councils can be made safer for women, with toxic behaviour a key driver behind female candidates choosing not to run again.

Consultations with the local government sector suggested the threshold for a misconduct complaint may be too high and there needed to be more ways to intervene early.

They also said the current system was not effective because people were intimidated from speaking, did not trust the process or because the council already had existing cultural issues.

One submission said councils had become a “parliament of opposition as opposed to a diverse board of the community”, with single-issue politicians, bias and poor understanding of how local government works getting in the way of results.

Poor training and skills were a key issue, and some saw candidate training as a box-ticking exercise.