Spring 2021 - Local government integrity matters

Welcome to the spring edition of our integrity matters newsletter.

The Inspectorate recently released a report on councillors’ personal interests declarations, which revealed concerning levels of noncompliance. We made recommendations to improve compliance – and transparency in relation to councillors’ declaration of their personal interests.

Like most Victorians, I am delighted to see that Victoria is slowly reopening and returning to a new kind of normal where we will live with COVID-19. However, the reopening has brought challenges for employers, including councils. Public health rules are still in place to protect our hospitals, health workers and the general population meaning we must be flexible and adaptive as we learn to adjust.

After almost two years in administration, South Gippsland Council went to the polls in a postal vote in October and the results were declared in early November. We have more information on the results in this issue.

Complainants to the Inspectorate are often frustrated when we say we cannot investigate something because it is outside our jurisdiction. Our responsibilities and the limits to our powers are set out in the Local Government Act 2020. In this issue we explain what we can and can’t investigate. We have included case studies of actual complaints to give you a better understanding of our work.

And finally, we presented to councillors and the leadership team of a regional council recently about our role and how we can help educate and provide advice to councils. We are happy to speak to other councils and encourage you to get in touch if there is something we can help you with.

I look forward to life slowly returning to normal and the opportunity to meet more of you in person as we continue to open up.

Michael Stefanovic AM
Chief Municipal Inspector