In April, the Local Government and Shires Associations of New South Wales endorsed accountability, transparency and caps on expenses for elected Councillors and senior staff. The Department of Local Government supervises sanctions against inappropriate Councillor or staff use of expenses, and can demand refunds from individuals claiming inappropriate expenses. Each Council must put on public display an expenses code for Councillors, which is open to public comment, and must publish Councillor expenses in their annual report to ratepayers.
President of the New South Wales Local Government Association and Mayor of North Sydney Council, Councillor Genia McCaffery, said unlike other areas of government, local communities can view individual Council policies on permitted expenses.
“All Councils are accountable to their community through a transparent public policy,” she said. “If a Council decides to vary their policy, they must advertise the changes and allow 28 days for public comment.
“At North Sydney Council, all staff are assessed against integrity in all dealings as part of their performance assessment.
“Our Associations support any measures that ensure there is no abuse of expenditure. Individual Councils that abuse the trust of the community will answer to the authorities, or the ratepayers at election time.”
President of the New South Wales Shires Association, Councillor Col Sullivan, said the Department of Local Government or the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has powers to examine inappropriate expenditure by Councillors or staff.
“The Department can order repayments from staff or Councillors of any disallowed expenditure resulting from negligence or misconduct,” he said. “Councillors and staff must use Council resources effectively and economically in undertaking their public or professional duties. Councillor participation in conferences should be determined by debate in open Council so that ratepayers themselves can judge the effectiveness of individual participation.
“Local Government is a six billion dollar industry in New South Wales, and the vast majority of expense claims are consistent with the corporate sector, but we have a lot more public scrutiny of our internal workings.”
