Gag claim dismissed

By Rebecca Fraser
A CASEY councillor’s claim that he is being “gagged” by fellow colleagues has been dismissed by mayor Kevin Bradford.
Four Oaks Ward councillor Paul Richardson, a staunch opponent of ratepayer-funded overseas trips by elected councillors and council officers, also claims that some of his colleagues have tried to entice him with international travel.
Cr Richardson, who formed the Endeavour Hills Community Watchdog before he was elected, said he believed this was a trap.
The watchdog was formed to publicly criticise overseas travel and scrutinise other council matters.
He said there was no way he would accept a ratepayer-funded overseas trip and would continue to be outspoken on the matter.
“If I accepted an overseas trip, the (news)papers would be all over me, the ratepayers would be angry and the councillors would be laughing,” he said.
Cr Bradford said no overseas trips had ever been offered to Cr Richardson and called on him to name the person who had supposedly made the offer.
He said no councillors were trying to gag anyone but conceded that Cr Richardson was “struggling” to come to terms with his new role.
“The new council has already set a strong precedent with overseas travel after they voted against Cr Wilson’s trip to the waste management conference in Malta last year.
“So I encourage Cr Richardson to focus on more important issues in his ward such as the Hallam Road duplication, Endeavour Hills Shopping Centre Structure plan and Narre Warren North recreational reserve.”
Earlier this month, Cr Richardson appeared on 3AW denouncing council-funded overseas travel.
He also recently withdrew a Notice of Motion concerning overseas travel that was due to be discussed at next Tuesday’s council meeting.
Cr Richardson claims the motion was leaked to the press and said attempts had been made to identify the “culprits”.
He also defended his talkback radio appearance and said he would gladly take to the airwaves and discuss the matter again even though some councillors had told him not to speak to the media about his ideas on council travel.
The scrapped motion called on council to cease all council-funded overseas trips, review all sister city relationships with the intention of ceasing council-funded overseas trips, and endorse a statewide travel register for all 79 councils.
Cr Richardson said he would still push the last point at next week’s council meeting, but he had removed the others after having discussions with the mayor.
Cr Bradford said he had told his colleague that councillors did not have the authority to reject council officers’ travel or influence the overseas travel habits of councillors in other municipalities in Victoria.
Cr Bradford also questioned Cr Richardson’s plans to endorse the Victorian Local Governance Association and Local Government Minister Broad’s setting up of a statewide travel register if one had not even been touted.
“How can you endorse something that has not happened?” he said.
Cr Bradford said that as mayor, he was the official media spokesperson for council but did not have a problem with councillors talking to the press, as long as it was in a well-informed and positive manner.