Queensland Councils have welcomed the Code of Conduct Bill introduced into State Parliament in April by the Local Government, Planning and Environment Minister, Desley Boyle.
“An extensive consultation process, which commenced in 2003, ensured that the draft legislation developed went a long way towards providing a framework to help Councillors be more accountable for their actions and behaviour,” said Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) President, Councillor Paul Bell. “All our representations were considered along the way. The legislation is aimed at a small minority of elected Councillors whose behaviour is distracting Councils from their core businesses of providing Local Government services the community needs.
“I am confident that the vast majority of the 125 Councils across Queensland will never have to apply the legislation to breaches of their Code of Conduct for Councillors. However, it is important to have some enforceable law for those rare occasions when it might be needed. Most of the matters raised in discussions between the LGAQ Department officers have been addressed in the Bill.
“The Bill requires Councils to establish a general complaints process to manage complaints about their administrative actions. This is something new for Local Governments to put into place in their governance arrangements. LGAQ will continue to monitor the implementation of the new law and assist Councils where help is needed.”
