Time to fix the councils mess

ALMOST a year and a half has passed since the State Government introduced its sweeping Belcarra reforms in a bid to clean up local government in the face of high profile corruption cases down south.

A consequence of the new legislation — unintended, we have been repeatedly assured — has been rabid confusion about what constitutes a conflict of interest and how to deal with them when they come up.

And they do, with annoying frequency, even if it relates to a paltry $100 donation spread among seven councillors from a decade ago.

Cairns Regional Council’s Unity Team has previously voted as a bloc to stop a small committee of nonconflicted councillors from being able to vote on matters where Unity cannot due to campaign donations.

Instead, they delegate decisions to the CEO amid more repeated assurances about the State Government introducing amendments to fix up the mess.

Month in, month out, those longawaited amendments have failed to come up for a parliamentary vote.

The time has arrived for Cairns Regional Council to rip off the BandAid and follow Cassowary Coast Regional Council’s lead last week to set up this non-conflicted standing committee while we wait for the State Government’s excruciatingly slow wheels to turn.

There is no suggestion anyone has done anything wrong here, but we voted for divisional councillors to make decisions on our behalf — not a bureaucrat with a rubber stamp.

About 500 people will be in Cairns today for the Local Government Association of Queensland’s annual conference. What better time to make the decision? Chris Calcino chris.calcino@news.com.au