Lobbying policy may restrict councillors
A draft lobbying policy guiding councillor interactions with developers and lobbyists was shelved at a recent Baw Baw Shire council meeting.
Whilst noting a policy would be required in some form, Cr Joe Gauci questioned the timing of the draft policy and raised concerns it would restrict councillors fulfilling their roles.
As part of the draft policy, councillors would be required to keep a record of interactions with developers and lobbyists and, in some cases, avoid one-on-one meetings.
The recommendation was for the draft lobbying policy to go out for public comment.
However, Cr Gauci put forward an alternate motion to wait until recommendations from Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Communication’s (IBAC) Operation Sandon were made public before revisiting any policy regarding developer and councillor interaction.
Operation Sandon is an ongoing investigation into allegations of corrupt conduct involving councillors and property developers in the City of Casey.
Until IBAC gives its full recommendations, Cr Gauci said it was a risk to go through the process only to find the policy needs to be “completely different”.
“I don’t think we need to do this right now,” he said. “We are putting the cart before the horse in this scenario.”
Noting lobbying was a healthy part of local government democracy, the draft lobbying policy stated “it is important that lobbying is conducted in such a way that it does not undermine public confidence in impartial decision making.”
“Lobbying in the local government context is common. It may be that a sporting club seeks upgrades to grounds and amenities, or a group requesting a rate reduction for farm land,” the draft policy stated.
The draft policy covered behaviour of lobby groups; a voluntary contact register; property development matters; and dealing with potential developers, submitters and lobbyists (separated into non-current proposals before council, current proposals, and proposals subject to legal proceedings).
It stated “councillors should keep a written record of any contact with developers, submitters and/or lobbyists and forward to the governance team within 10 days of contact.”
The register would be publicly available on council’s website.
It also stated a developer “covers any land use planning application from a single site through to multi-stage subdivisions.”
Speaking on the alternate motion which gained unanimous support, Cr Gauci said “I think we need to back up a little bit, I think we need to wait.”
“In November 2020, our audit and risk committee raised a request for a report on the risk of fraud around developer interactions. They wanted to know what systems councils had in place and how we would deal with such problems.”
He believed the councillor code of conduct, governance procedures and transparency to the community covered most aspects of the draft policy for the medium term.
“My job as a councillor is to talk to anybody who wants to talk to me,” Cr Gauci added. “I don’t want to put undue pressure on our organisation by some of the conditions that may be within this policy.”
Cr Danny Goss agreed - “I don’t understand what the issue is here in Baw Baw Shire that needs fixing”.
“Until I’m compelled not to meet with people, not to meet with residents, not to meet with people who want to put a shed on their backyard, I’ll continue to take their calls, reply to their emails and, if possible, ask the CEO to intervene on their behalf,” he said. “That’s my job, and I intend to keep doing it that way.”
“It’s really about bigger developers, rather than smaller developers. I’ve met many developers over the journey here... I’ve never been asked for any favours,” Cr Goss added.
“This is not law that we have to do it, there is no rush we have to do this. In my view, it’s bad policy anyway, it’s not been thought through properly,” Cr Goss said.