This is our own Utopia

READERS of this newspaper yesterday might have thought they were caught in real-life version of TV’s Hollowmen, Utopia or Yes Minister.

Apparently the State Government’s favoured structure for local councils is to have single-councillor wards.

If it wasn’t so farcical, it would almost be funny.

The single-councillor ward system was in use at the City of Greater Geelong, and has only recently been dismantled … by this State Government.

It took a number of scandals and independent reviews to bring down the system.

In 2013 this newspaper revealed a secret ward-funding program at City Hall. More than $7 million of ratepayers’ money was spent annually through the rort, with all 12 councillors allocating money to projects in their own ward at their whim with limited scrutiny.

The cosy arrangement cooked up by councillors in the early 2000s ran for almost a decade, at a cost nudging $60 million. Councillors often ignored advice from City staff to fund their favoured projects.

While many of the projects they supported were worthy, the lack of process was condemning.

At its worst, the ward funding scheme allowed councillors to feather their own nests; to support groups they were associated with, or those they thought might deliver for them at the ballot box. At its best, it was a well-meaning system applied with poor governance.

A report delivered in late 2014 described the scheme as “flawed” rather than fraud.

Fifteen months later a commission of inquiry cited that report in calling for the dismissal of council and a revamped ward structure. “The single ward councillor system has not served the city well … there should be multi-councillor wards to share representative responsibilities,” the commission found.

But now, new Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek has a report that says single-councillor ward systems are the best as they keep the elected rep’s accountable.

What a Utopian world we live in!