By Cara Waters
British pop star Robbie Williams being gifted the key to the city has sparked a City of Melbourne review into the process for awarding the honour.
One of the owners of Village Roadshow, which was linked to the superstar’s film biopic that Williams was in Australia to promote, donated $10,000 to Lord Mayor Nick Reece’s election campaign.
Williams was presented with the key to the city by Reece at a free surprise public concert at Federation Square on January 2 before an estimated crowd of 10,000.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece with Robbie Williams to give him the key to the city at Federation Square. Credit: Paul Jeffers
Being given a key to the city is a rare honour, with only 40 given in Melbourne’s history, including to Australian icon Olivia Newton-John, philanthropist Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, boxing legend Muhammad Ali and US country star Dolly Parton.
Williams was the first person in seven years to be awarded the honour.
At the time, Reece said the City of Melbourne handed out keys to acknowledge the contribution of an individual, group or organisation in furthering the ideals of the city, or to recognise outstanding achievement in sport, entertainment or humanitarian work at a national or international level.
“There’s no better man to have a key to our city than legendary British pop singer Robbie Williams,” Reece quipped, referencing one of the singer’s hits and the name of his film.
However, concerns have now been raised about the process by which Williams was selected. The Age has spoken to three councillors and reviewed the report into the council’s civic recognition guidelines.
On August 5 last year John Kirby, an owner of Village Roadshow, made the $10,000 donation to Reece’s campaign. It helped the lord mayor hopeful raise a record $950,484 for his election from a who’s who of Melbourne, including wealthy businesspeople, trade unionists and developers.
Roadshow Films, a fully owned subsidiary of Village Roadshow, was the distributor for Williams’ Better Man biopic and helped organise the concert in Federation Square.
Kirby is a shareholder of VRG Holdco, the holding company for Village Roadshow, and was formerly the chairman of Village Roadshow. The Kirby family ran the Village business for three generations.
Reece and Alison Leighton, chief executive at the City of Melbourne, made the decision to award Williams the key to the city, and councillors only found out the day before the ceremony.
Councillors were told the decision was under embargo, and so they could not have been informed at an earlier date.
A spokesman for the City of Melbourne said representatives from Roadshow Films requested the City of Melbourne consider awarding Williams the key to the city.
Reece and the City of Melbourne declined to answer questions on when the decision was made to award the key to Williams and whether Kirby was involved in any of the discussion or correspondence.
Reece said he was thrilled to award the key to the city to Williams under the council’s civic recognition guidelines.
“It was a truly magical moment for Melbourne – shared with 10,000 fans at Fed Square,” he said. “Robbie is a global pop legend – and an honorary Melburnian at this point.”
Reece’s actions in awarding the honour to Williams was in accordance with the council’s civic recognition guidelines, but has prompted a reappraisal of the procedures, with council to consider endorsing a revised civic recognition policy for community consultation at its meeting on Tuesday night.
“An operational review of the most recent award presented (being the Robbie Williams Keys to the City) provided insights and lessons to guide improvements,” the report to council states.
The review found the decision-making process “requires clarity”, communication with councillors “needs greater rigour” and embargoes for external events must be undertaken in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act and established conventions.
Councillor Olivia Ball said with an unprecedented amount of fundraising at last year’s City of Melbourne election came an unprecedented number of donors and donors’ interests to be considered in assessing councillors’ conflicts.
“Having a conflict of interest is not in itself a problem – it’s normal and almost inevitable for councillors active in their local community – but identifying, declaring and managing them is essential,” she said.
Councillor Owen Guest said there was potential for a conflict even if it was only perceived.
“Everyone needs to be acutely aware of their responsibilities when it comes to the donations they have taken and potential conflicts of interest,” he said.
Councillor Gladys Liu said she was not aware of the donation to Reece’s campaign, and the awarding of the key to the city to Williams was a surprise to councillors.
“We felt that we should have been consulted or at least informed well before the key being presented,” she said. “We were sent a short text message only that morning. Some colleagues got to know about it in the media the day before.”
A spokesman for the Village Roadshow Group declined to comment on Kirby or Village Roadshow’s involvement in any discussions or correspondence with Reece or the City of Melbourne about giving Williams the key to the city.
He also declined to comment on whether Kirby’s donation was in any way linked to Williams being awarded the key to the city.
“John Kirby is neither a director of Village Roadshow Pty Ltd or involved with the management of the Village Roadshow Group,” he said. “Roadshow Films (a part of the Village Roadshow Group) had no knowledge of a donation from John Kirby.”
Dr Colleen Lewis, of integrity group the Accountability Round Table, said the important thing was transparency.
“There is an absolute need in any level of government for more transparency about the decisions made for those seeking office,” she said. “It is the lack of transparency and making promises that cannot be kept that is starting to raise concerns about the way local government is conducted in Melbourne.”
Williams and Kirby did not respond to requests for comment.
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