By Cam Lucadou-Wells
The State Government, backed by the Opposition, has moved to sack Casey Council and put it under the rule of administrators until 2024.
It comes on the back of an ongoing IBAC investigation of serious corruption allegations involving chiefly Casey councillors Geoff Ablett and Sam Aziz and property developer John Woodman.
However an explosive report by the State-appointed Monitor Laurinda Gardner found more widespread “governance failures” and a bullying culture across the council.
Failings included councilor conduct, disclosure of conflicts of interest and decision making.
Her report recommended dismissing the council and appointing administrators beyond the 2020 election.
On 18 February, the Government moved a Bill of Parliament to dismiss the councillors – in the hope it would pass both Houses by the end of the day.
“Our intention is to see this matter resolved for the Casey community as quickly as possible,” Government MP Jacinta Allen told Parliament.
Opposition local government spokesman Tim Smith, in supporting the Bill, noted he would prefer a shorter administration period until March 2023.
He labelled Cr Aziz as “the Christopher Skase of local government” who should immediately return to Melbourne to “face the music” at IBAC.
Instead, Cr Aziz was staying in Egypt “next to a river called Denial”.
Greens MP Sam Hibbens, also in support, called for reform to ban political donations from property developers.
In her report, Ms Gardner found councillor bullying, intimidation and exclusion flourished due to an “embedded “avoidance culture”.
She stated that amidst the IBAC Operation Sandon allegations, councillors prioritised their own reputations rather than the City of Casey.
She singled out the council’s special council meeting on New Years’ Eve to establish a special planning committee out of councillors’ belief that it would help restore public confidence.
The timing and the concept was of “significant concern to the community members I spoke to as an example of poor process and little regard for the community”, Ms Gardner said.
“The establishment of the Special Committee indicates a willingness to pass responsibility onto another body rather than taking up the challenge of demonstrating how they can govern well, and restore community trust and confidence.”
Councillors had taken an overriding view that if either one or both councillors in the middle of the IBAC investigation were removed that “everything would be all right”, she reported.
It was an “inadequate” response that showed a lack of understanding by councillors on the “poor governance practices” exposed by the IBAC allegations.
Ms Gardner noted that no councillors had sought refresher training on conflict of interest and governance issues.
She reported on councillor cliques based on “one or more dominant personalities”, and read “disrespectful” and “inflammatory” email exchanges between councillors.
“(The) unwillingness of councillors to call out unacceptable Councillor behaviour and hold each other to account appears to be motivated by a fear of conflict or further intimidation that has enabled inappropriate behaviour to go unchecked.”
Ms Gardner also observed councillors “stumbling” in declaring conflicts of interest at council meetings, and failing to inform the gallery of the reasons for conflicts of interest.
There was too much ‘en bloc’ voting by councillors with a lack of questioning and a low standard of debate contributing to meetings of less than an hour.
Casey Council had suffered “serious damage” to its reputation and public confidence, Ms Gardner said.
“I do not have confidence in the ability of the Casey City Council to meet its statutory obligations under the Act for the foreseeable future, particularly in relation to its ability to ‘act in a way that secures and preserves public confidence in the office of councillor’.”
Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek said the Monitor reported “clear evidence” of governance failures.
“Victorians expect and deserve the highest standards of governance and integrity from their local council – the monitor’s report has found clear evidence Casey has fallen short of those standards,” Mr Somyurek said.
“This a very serious measure but it’s essential that Casey residents get a council that works in their interests.”
Meanwhile, Casey’s councillors – minus Cr Aziz and the recently-resigned Rex Flannery and Tim Jackson – held what was expected to be their last public meeting that night.
In a statement, mayor Susan Serey said she was “at a loss” at why the State Government decided to replace the councillors with administrators.
“I am at a loss to see why and how the State Government can justify their decision when we have cooperated fully with any investigations while clearly demonstrating that we have been able to govern and meet our responsibilities under the Act.”
Cr Serey said councillors would “remain in their positions” until the Bill passed Parliament and received Royal Assent.
