COUNCIL CODE FIX NEEDED
FUNDAMENTAL reform of Tasmania’s local government code of conduct system is long overdue. The application of the code in its present form is imposing a set of expectations on our local government representatives that does not exist in any similar form at any other level of government.
The system seems to attract — if not encourage — vexatious and trivial complaints. It appears to some critics to hamper and stifle free political expression. At the same time more serious matters — such as the threatening behaviour allegations against Kingborough councillor David Grace — attract a reprimand and the requirement of an apology.
We can do better. Councillors and council staff deserve to work in an environment free of bullying, harassment and corruption. But these multiple desirable elements of the system are not mutually exclusive.
There is no argument in favour of a total absence of regulation for the conduct of local government members, but what the state has ended up with is a system that is not serving its intended purpose.
There has been a series of puzzlingly inconsistent decisions emerge from the process in recent years. The current system has evolved from the days when each council had its own code. The new statewide code was imposed in 2016, reviewed in 2017 and updated in 2019. The Local Government Association has passed a motion of no confidence in the system. Local Government Minister Mark Shelton promised new guidelines for the code’s enforcement last year. They are yet to appear.
Many of the determinations emerging from the code of conduct system seem to be the result of councillors using the system as a weapon against each other to further their political ends. Burnie’s colourful mayor Steve Kons, himself the subject of a longrunning and as-yet unresolved complaint, wants the whole system thrown out.
He is pursuing Supreme Court action against one particular claim made against him. It is clear that the code of conduct system in its current form enjoys little support, save perhaps for those on one side with an interest in the dogged persecution of the trivial.
Tasmanians benefit both from robust political debate and the orderly conduct of government affairs on their behalf. Reform seems to come slowly in local government affairs, whether it is the development of a statewide planning system, the amalgamation of the plethora of councils — or in the matter of a code of conduct.
All those with an interest in the orderly conduct of local government have an interest in a fit-for-purpose code of conduct system. The principles are hardly revolutionary, but rather those which apply to other systems of justice: the rules should be fair, should be applied consistently and outcomes should be proportionate to the offence.