Richie caught in slips
Councillor sits out over conflict of interest
A FIERY exchange, a fine, a game of musical chairs and a voting veto – the effects of a statewide clampdown on council conflicts of interest were in full flight.
Yesterday’s Cairns Regional Council meeting was the first test of new laws which could result in jail terms for local government officials who fail to properly declare conflicts.
Almost half of the hourand-a-half-long meeting was dedicated to dealing with con- flicts Councillors were shuffling in and out of the room like cuckoos in a clock.
Division 5 Cr Richie Bates’s electoral donations from two unions led to his exit.
The matter at hand was a simple report for noting which mentioned the ongoing stalemate in enterprise bargaining negotiations with council staff.
Cr Bates argued the donations would not sway his vote, but under new laws it was up to his colleagues to decide.
Division 1 councillor Brett Moller raised Cr Bates’s vocal support of striking workers outside the council office in April as evidence he should leave.
“I believe, by the actions, there is uncertainty and confusion about Cr Bates’s duties and obligations in respect to the EBA process,” he said.
Everybody agreed except Division 2 councillor John Schilling and Cr Bates was out.
The CBD councillor was also taken to task for failing to declare a conflict in February over an electoral donation.
He raised the error at the next meeting but a fellow councillor complained to the Department of Local Government, who slapped him with a fine and ordered an apology.
The $200 penalty went to consolidated revenue despite Cr Bates’s suggestion it be spent on the Cairns Performing Arts Centre project, which he said was millions of dollars over budget, water and waste infrastructure upgrades or “the remuneration of our workforce who still await the completion of an EBA after a year of failed negotiations”.
Cr Bates was fined $500 in March for publicly revealing the council spent $300,000 to secure Elton John’s concert at Cazaly’s last year.