The code of conduct used by councils is broken and needs an overhaul, the State Government said.
The code of conduct system used for elected councillors has generated thousands of trivial complaints making it almost impossible to act swiftly and fairly on matters of genuine concern according to the Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig.
“The current councillor code of conduct system is too open to weaponisation, with tit-for-tat complaints diverting critical council resources and ratepayer money from the things that matter most to communities,” Mr Hoenig said.
At the Casino Meet the Candidates on Monday, September 2, Richmond Valley mayor Robert Mustow said there had been no code of conducts in his two terms on the council.
Kyogle Council had eight code of conducts against councillors in the year 2022-23. The figures for 2023-24 are not yet available.
The State Government discussion paper on changing the code of conduct has been released today, Thursday, September 5.
It proposes a complete rewrite and simplification of the Model Code of Conduct as well as a number of new pathways for addressing poor councillor behaviour.
The discussion paper invites feedback from the community.
At over 100 pages long the current code of conduct framework is overly complex, distracts from robust democratic debate and is being increasingly weaponised for political reasons, Mr Hoenig said.
There were 4289 code of conduct complaints lodged across the state in the last three years, forcing councils to divert significant time and money to resolve these complaints.
Proposed reforms would streamline the code of conduct down to 2-3 pages similar to the State Parliamentary code and outline clear expectations of behaviour for the 1300 elected councillors in NSW.
The new code of conduct system would see minor complaints about councillor misbehaviour dealt with by a councillor’s peers and leave serious matters relating to conflicts of interest to be examined by the Office of Local Government.
The government is also putting forward reforms to improve transparency of council meetings to ensure decisions are being made openly and in the best interests of the community as a whole.
Key reforms outlined in the discussion paper, some of which would require changes to the Local Government Act 1993, include.
● Establishing a local government privileges committee of experienced councillors with mayoral experience to assess complaints made against councillors for misbehaviour.
● Removing private investigators from the councillor conduct process.
● Banning private councillor briefing sessions, except in very limited circumstances
● Strengthening lobbying guidelines for local government
● Giving mayors more power to expel councillors from meetings for acts of disorder and remove their entitlement to receive a fee in the month of their indiscretion
The discussion paper is open for community and sector feedback and can be viewed here.
There is plenty of time to get your submission in by the closing date of November 15.
All Richmond Valley Council news stories here.
All Kyogle Council news stories are here.
The information in this report was provided by the Office of Local Government.
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