The Brimbank fallout

The Age reports that Local Government Minister Richard Wynne and his department are unwilling and incapable of properly monitoring the activities and probity of local councils, according to a former local government minister and former Melbourne lord mayor. A recent Ombudsman's report into the activities at the Brimbank council has also raised serious questions about the oversight of the local government sector.

But it was not only councillors, state MPs and electorate officers who came under attack in the Ombudsman's Brimbank report. The report also "identified concerns about the way in which Local Government Victoria discharged its statutory responsibility to investigate potential breaches of the Local Government Act in relation to Brimbank. In my view, Local Government Victoria's response to complaints about Brimbank did not adequately address the issues raised," Ombudsman George Brouwer found.

Local Government Victoria until recently had only six staff, whose responsibilities included investigating complaints against any of Victoria's 79 councils. Two full-time investigators have recently been added. Other people have suggested politics are preventing the proper oversight of local councils.