Hume council votes for eligibility

Hume council

Hume council wants a “discriminatory” clause preventing ministerial and electorate officers from standing for council to be left out of the new Local Government Bill.

In its submission to the state government’s Local Government Bill exposure draft, the council said it did not support the proposal to continue preventing ministerial and electorate officers and parliamentary advisors from being councillors.

The restriction divided councillors, with Jack Medcraft, Jodi Jackson, Leigh Johnson and Naim Kurt wanting the restriction to remain.

But Cr Drew Jessop said it was discriminatory because it excluded a certain class of employment from being councillors.

“Any citizen and resident should be able to nominate for council unless there is a very, very good reason they should not,” he said.

Cr Jackson said the clause had been introduced to make councils more transparent. She warned that removing it would impact on residents’ ability to trust councils.

Cr Jackson asked her fellow councillors to also consider restricting real estate agents and property developers from standing for council, but the proposal failed to gain support.

In December, the state government released the exposure draft of the Local Government Bill 2018, following the 2015 review of the Local Government Act 1989, which the bill is slated to replace.

If passed by Parliament, the bill will come into operation over four stages.