CHILDISH COUNCILS NEED REFORM
NO WONDER voters have become disillusioned with politicians. In recent weeks and months the state Labor Party has been imploding due to a bitter civil war. For too long the party has failed to act as an effective opposition instead making headlines for navelgazing and scandal as shots are fired from Left and Right factions.
That’s the standard at state government level but as you look at local governments, the politics considered to be the most grassroots, it’s clear much work has to still be done.
Tasmania has more local councils per capita than any other state in Australia.
In the Sunday Tasmanian, journalist Cameron Whiteley reported that Clarence City Council mayor Doug Chipman would call for an independent review of workplace culture for elected members.
Ald Chipman said his motion came after the director of local government wrote to all councillors in the state last month to highlight the importance of providing safe environments for councillors, employees and visitors.
At a meeting earlier this month, Clarence Ald Tony Mulder suggested each alderman should do an anger management course – though his motion was narrowly defeated.
He made the move after a war of words broke out over elected officials attending an LNP fundraiser and who paid for their own ticket and who let the ratepayers pay.
There were claims of bullying and a fiery back-and-forth via email.
For something as straightforward as expense policy, the hysteria that followed was really quite disturbing.
Stoushes like these are not unique to Clarence. In fact, more or less every council has its fair share of infighting.
That’s evidenced by the sheer number of code of conduct complaints – a process in and of itself that is fraught.
The application of the code is imposing a set of expectations on local government representatives that does not exist in any similar form at other levels 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 attract a reprimand and the requirement of an apology.
It’s difficult for most outsiders to fathom how groups of some adults seem to not know how to conduct themselves in a respectful manner in the course of public life.
But clearly, as it stands, more needs to be done to ensure the parameters are understood and councillors work in an environment that is free from bullying, harassment and corruption.
If the review is a step towards that, then it’s a good idea to get it done.