Last Thursday night’s special Council meeting, which saw the Deputy Mayor submit her resignation from the position, indicates that the Council is experiencing difficulty facing up to the tasks set it by the Ombudsmans Final Report.
The report was publicly released earlier this month, but a draft had been circulated to affected Council members earlier in the year.
Councillor Keneally in her resignation speech to the meeting, indicated that she felt unable to carry out her duties in the position of Deputy Mayor. She made a passionate declaration that she would continue as ward councillor:
" I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the community for their very warm welcome, support and encouragement during the period I have been involved in the Deputy Mayors' role, and I'd also note the value that they place, and the respect that they have for the role of deputy mayor. In the role of elected member however, I look forward to the remainder of the term of council. I continue to focus on the core business of council, as well as look for as many opportunities to be accessible and available to the residents as I always have been. My passion has been, and continues to be "Keep rates low" and to ensure that residents throughout the City of Charles Sturt are supported and well represented. Thank you, and I ask that this be included in the minutes"
She told HI that her difficulties were more general than merely the arguments concerning the street corner meeting “Turf Wars” which had attracted high profile media coverage recently. Several councilors agreed during the special meeting that this was the case.
(The question of the street corner meetings organised by the local state member were examined in depth in the Ombudsmans Report)
Tensions boiled over during the debate on Councillor Agius’ motion which called for the Council to develop a policy on “Street Corner Meetings” to include protocols and guidelines, and be adopted by the Finance Policy and Delegations Committee.
Councilor Randall opposed the motion, stating that Council needed to respond to the Ombudsman’s Report in a serious fashion, and that this would have to include questions of councilors participation in street corner meetings. He singled out Cr Keneally, who he claimed was not a team player on council:
“my suspicion is, Councillor Keneally, that you are seeking preselection for the Australian Labor Party as a candidate.”
He said that in his opinion, she would make a good parliamentary member, and he wished her every success, but that in this Cr Keneally had received some very bad political advice.
Cr Randall quoted from page 63 of the Ombudsman’s Report, which section examines the testimony of Councilor “P” regarding street corner meetings and the involvement of the Hon. Michael Atkinson’s electorate office in organising these meetings.
Cr Randall stated:
“The Ombudsmans Report says where we should go. If you're going to be a candidate, and you start to use member of parliaments’ offices you need to be very careful.
We shouldn't be doing it because it will get us involved in another inquiry.
It's not the way to go”
His peroration was interrupted by a series of points of order regarding relevance and probity, which for the most part were upheld by the Mayor, who repeatedly warned the Councilor
Cr Keneally demanded that the Cr Randall withdraw imputations of improper motive,
Cr Randall stated that he had not wished to make any such implication.
A division was called which showed Cr Randall to be the sole opponent of the motion.
COMMENT
I attended this ‘Special’ meeting of the Council with the expectation that I might discover how well the Council had taken on board the Ombusmans Report. The conclusions I formed do not incline me to the view that the situation is in hand.
It was “business as usual” at town hall.
While it is true that feelings were heated, there can be no excuse for the disrespect shown for the Mayors’ role in chairing the meeting. At one point her activity in assisting a fellow councilor was challenged – a remarkable initiative for a councilor to make given that the Mayor has the responsibility for considering the Ombudsman’s recommendation in relation to code of conduct violations against these same councilors.
If the council is dysfunctional, as Cr Keneallys’ resignation seems to suggest, then the Government will have no option other than to suspend it.
By D
No comments:
Post a Comment