Councillor Coral Ross will not be eligible to accept Darebin City Council’s decision to appoint her as their Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) delegate.
After seeking legal advice the MAV decided on Friday that Darebin’s appointment is invalid under the association’s rules.
The City of Darebin made the unusual move of nominating Cr Ross – a councillor at the City of Boroondara – as their delegate, after Boroondara made the controversial decision not to back her as their candidate.
Darebin Mayor Kim Le Cerf said her council’s decision was “to support better gender representation in the local government sector”.
Boroondara has said there is “no basis” that the decision not to back Cr Ross was motivated by gender.
The MAV board election is to be held in March and the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) is progressively updating a list of candidates nominating for the board and presidency.
So far candidates for the presidency are: Councillor Mary Lalios (Whittlesea); Councillor Catherine Cumming (Maribyrnong); and Councillor David Clark (Pyrenees).
