A municipal monitor has been appointed Whittlesea council once again, amid concerns that “difficulties” will arise when suspended councillor Aidan McLindon returns later this week.
A report from a Commission of Inquiry into the council was tabled in state parliament on Tuesday 14 October.
The Commission of Inquiry was announced by Local Government Minister Nick Staikos in April after he suspended Mr McLindon – then mayor of Whittlesea – for six months.
Mr Staikos made the decision on the basis that Mr McLindon’s behaviour was creating a serious risk to the health and safety of councillors and/or staff, and followed a letter from Whittlesea’s government-appointed municipal monitors in March, recommending the suspension.
The letter from the monitors followed a vote of no confidence in Mr McLindon by the city’s other councillors and his subsequent ban from council premises for occupational health and safety reasons.
The Commission of Inquiry found Mr McLindon’s conduct was “detrimental to the council”.
It also found there were several factors that resulted in the councillors and council chief executive Craig Lloyd taking action against Mr McLindon, and recognised the councillors and Mr Lloyd will “face challenges” upon his return from suspension.
The commission stated that it had “serious concerns about the conduct of Mr McLindon when he was mayor”.
It stated that he “failed” in several essential respects to perform the role of a mayor, finding that he did not commit the time and effort needed, and also failed to represent the council to the community and left council without an effective voice.
“In the role of mayor, Mr McLindon was required to promote good conduct by the councillors. In fact, he personally demonstrated extremely poor conduct,” the commission stated in the report.
“Many of the comments on social media by Mr McLindon show, at the very least, a disregard for how they affect other people, especially members of the LGBTQIA+ and First Peoples communities.
“In making unsubstantiated and sometimes bizarre accusations against the council, the council administration and the Victorian Government, Mr McLindon generated misinformation and brought the council into disrepute.
“Overall Mr McLindon demonstrated a disregard for how his actions reflected on the council and how they affected other councillors, council staff and the community.”
The commission said it considered whether there were any matters not considered as part of the original decision to suspend Mr McLindon, which would provide a sufficient basis to recommend his suspension for a further period.
“On the evidence provided to this inquiry, the commission is not satisfied that this threshold has been met,” it stated.
The commission recommended the Local Government Inspectorate investigate “a number of complaints” about Mr McLindon “as quickly as possible”, and noted that an internal arbitration process into whether he breached the Model Councillor Code of Conduct would resume once his suspension ends on 16 October.
The commission also recommended a municipal monitor be appointed to the council – for the third time since December 2019 – and that Mr McLindon undertake further training.
The commission said the monitor would provide support to Mr Lloyd, the councillors and Mr McLindon to develop effective working relationships, and to assist Mr McLindon in avoiding any behaviours that may create risks to health and safety.
The commission stated that it did not hear any evidence which suggested the council is unable to deliver good governance, and it is not of the view that the council should be dismissed.
According to the report, there was a “fear” among the councillor group that the commission would result in the council being sent back into administration.
Administrators were in place at Whittlesea from March 2020 until the October 2024 local government elections following the sacking of the previous council.
In its report, the commission acknowledged that governance issues have been “problematic” at Whittlesea council for “many years now”.
The commission also found there were shortcomings in the performances of the councillors, the chief executive and administration, and the deputy mayor that contributed to the problems at the Whittlesea.
The commission found the councillors were divided along political lines when voting for the mayor in November 2024, and many did not exercise due diligence before deciding to support Mr McLindon as mayor.
According to the report, some councillors expressed concern about Mr McLindon becoming mayor” but voted for his election nonetheless.
The report also stated that councillors should have done more to try and resolve issues around Mr McLindon’s conduct internally and “to hold Mr McLindon to account for his behaviour”.
“This could have included organising appropriate external supports for the CEO and Mr McLindon to assist them in managing their relationship. While such efforts may have eventually proven ineffective, they should have been attempted before matters were escalated to external agencies,” the commission stated.
“Circumstances where the councillors appear to have fallen short appear to be attributable to inexperience, a lack of support and limitations of the legislative framework.”
The commission also found that the relationship between Mr Lloyd and Mr McLindon broke down very early after the election and was “beset by tension, conflict and a lack of mutual trust from the outset”.
The commission said this was a factor in the events that subsequently unfolded.
“The commission found that this was mainly due to Mr McLindon either misunderstanding or refusing to perform the role of a mayor and, at times, role of a Councillor, in accordance with the requirements of the Victorian Local Government system,” the report stated.
“We also found that the CEO was very quick to escalate what he considered were breaches of the Local Government Act 2020 or Model Councillor Code of Conduct to integrity agencies rather than try to resolve them internally and this may have exacerbated rather than calmed internal tensions.”
The commission also recommended a range of policy and legislative reforms to assist in “avoiding or minimising” situations such as this in the future, as well as the creation of an independent Local Government Integrity Commission to handle all complaints relating to councillor conduct.
“The commission has made its recommendations in the hope that situations such as this can be avoided at Whittlesea and other councils in future,” the report stated.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mr Staikos announced he had appointed Steven Kingshott as municipal monitor until 31 December, 2026.
