Councillors across Queensland will have to make their spouse’s pecuniary interests public in changes being announced by Local Government Minister Paul Lucas.
Amendments to both the Local Government Act and the City of Brisbane Act to reflect the changes are expected to come before State Parliament in coming months.
The move has been met with criticism from Local Government Association of Queensland CEO Greg Hallam who believed it would discourage people from seeking office as a councillor.
“It serves no public interest for these registers, which are already held and available to the Crime and Misconduct Commission, police, the auditor-general and the council CEO to be made public,” he said.
“There’s a very good reason they weren’t made public previously and that is to protect elected members’ partners from unnecessary attention and aggravation by virtue of their business lives.”
“This action doesn’t strengthen our democracy, it weakens it.”
