AdelaideNow reports that Councillors are allowed to receive and leak council documents to mates because of a loophole in local government laws. The Local Government Association wants to close the loophole, which forces council CEOs to hand over documents to councillors, even if they have declared a conflict of interest and removed themselves from council meetings in which the matters are discussed.
LGA executive director Wendy Campana said while Section 83 of the Act required a council CEO to provide all councillors with a copy of all reports, Section 74(4) disallowed councillors from voting or even being in the council chamber when a topic on which they had a conflict of interest was discussed.
The contradiction means a councillor can be excluded from a meeting discussing a development application but obtain all council documents about the application and, potentially, give them to the developer. The rules are supposed to stop those tendering for government contracts or with applications before the council gaining an unfair advantage because they know or are related to a councillor.
The LGA state executive has resolved to seek a change in the law to allow CEOs to withhold the documents "for their and their council's protection". Ms Campana said the LGA would consult with the Minister for Local Government about changing the legislation.
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