'Attack on democracy': Greens, councils oppose single councillor wards

When Geelong City Council was sacked in 2016 for being dysfunctional and riven with conflict and bullying, the Andrews government removed single councillor wards at the council.

The decision came after a scathing commission of inquiry into the failed council found single councillor wards “had the effect of undermining good governance”.

They compromised decision making by “trading off decisions for the common good in favour of ward interests” and distorted resource allocation and “rational priorities”.

So when Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek proposed a move to single member wards for all councils - with the exception of smaller rural shires - many in local government were dumbfounded.

Adem Somyurek says the new laws will help councils be more accountable.Credit: Pat Scala

Mr Somyurek told The Sunday Age single member wards would achieve “greater accountability, equity and grassroots democracy”.

“Victorians should be represented by councillors who know their constituents and are across local issues,” he said.

But Surf Coast Shire mayor Rose Hodge said the inquiry found single member wards weren’t working. “I just don’t know where the Minister is coming from on this one.”

And the Victorian Greens claimed the bill was an attack on the diversity and democracy of councils, which would reduce the number of women and candidates from diverse communities being elected.

“This bill is a blatant attempt to erase minor parties and independents from local councils and it’s our communities that will suffer for it,” said Victorian Greens Leader Samantha Ratnam.

The proportional representation voting system which applies to multi-member wards makes it easier for independents and minor parties to be elected, just as it is easier for them to be elected in the Senate or Legislative Council.

Darebin mayor Susan Rennie said a Victorian Electoral Commission review in 2007 had recommended the council move from single member wards to its current structure of three member wards to provide the community with better representation.

“Council finds it particularly difficult to understand the state’s rationale in moving all councils to a single member ward structure. Darebin does not believe this leads to greater community representation.”

The move to single councillor wards is among six new proposed reforms in the Local Government Bill to be introduced into Parliament later this year.

Other proposed changes include a cap on campaign donations and a process that would allow a councillor to be sacked after a community-initiated commission of inquiry.

“Communities deserve a way to hold their councillors accountable between elections – providing a mechanism for community petitions gives power to the people who elected the council to initiate an investigation,” Mr Somyurek said.

A Municipal Association of Victoria brief to councils said single member wards risked promoting parochialism rather than acting in the best interests of the municipality.

Just seven of Victoria’s 79 councils now had single-member wards, compared to 43 in 2003.

“The state has not provided any rationale as to why this is a bad thing,” the brief said.

President Coral Ross said the proposal for a community-initiated commission of inquiry, which could lead to a councillor being sacked, was also of “great concern”.

“This has never been done in Australia and could stop councils making hard decisions,” she said.

Monash mayor Shane McCluskey said the council was writing to the Minister with its concerns.

“Council strongly believes that the current four-ward, multi-member structure provides voters and the Monash community, as a whole, with fair and equitable representation.”

While single member wards could favour the major parties in some municipalities, it is not clear if Mr Somyurek’s move was driven by partisan concerns.

Senior party insiders told The Sunday Age they were genuinely surprised by the announcement. They insist it was not a response to party pressure.

However the move coincides with an official Labor push back into local government as the ALP seeks to reclaim political territory lost to the Greens.

An analysis by The Age in 2017 detailed how the Greens had supplanted the ALP as the most prominent party in Melbourne's local politics, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the 2016 council elections and colonising Labor's inner city heartland.

Many Labor members believe their loss of once-safe inner seats including Melbourne at the state and federal levels, is in part attributable to the party's ambivalence about local government.

In 2018, Victorian Labor formally decided to vigorously contest future council elections.