*Pic: The Buck stops HERE … From Peter Gutwein’s Facebook page HERE: Treasurer Gutwein and Premier Will Hodgman spruik the 2016 Budget …
Widespread and strong support from the Huon Valley community, and from supportive councillors, has convinced me that I must remain mayor of the Huon Valley Council until the council’s dysfunctional condition has been resolved.
The decision of the Minister for Local Government, Mr Peter Gutwein, to reject his own Board of Inquiry main findings and recommendations, can only be considered a real disappointment to concerned valley residents.
The Minister requested, last September that the board provide him with its findings and recommendations by 30 November. The board, discovering that such a deadline was impossible to meet, requested an extension.
Now, seven months on, the Minister has made a decision — after a process that has cost ratepayers, and me personally, tens of thousands of dollars — that resolves nothing.
The Minister, in appointing the board, said that “acting in the interests of ratepayers” was his primary objective. His decision to reject the board’s major recommendations fails to meet this stated objective.
Before the release of the board’s final report and recommendations, I advised the Minister and the board that mediation was an unacceptable solution. A year ago, at considerable legal cost to myself, I tried to convince the Minister and the Director of Local Government that, at that early stage of the new council, mediation could still resolve the difficult situation that prevailed. My efforts were in vain. By the time the board of inquiry was ordered in September, the time for mediation had passed. The board, as it conducted its investigation, came to recognise this.
I have been considering my position since the Minister’s decision on June 15. I can now advise the Minister and the Huon Valley community that I will be staying on as mayor of council and will continue to work, on behalf of the residents of the Huon Valley, for a more open and transparent council.
I want a council prepared to embrace change, and to recognise that many of the old ways of doing business are no longer appropriate.
I believe the Minister’s decision is clearly one of political expediency, and not in keeping with the kind of decision that any well-run enterprise would make.
I no longer have confidence in the process because the Minister, not only having decided that mediation is the way to go, has handed authority to council to mediate itself.
This decision presents the council with a glaring conflict of interest: how can it be allowed to arrange a mediation process that is designed to solve its own problems? I can see no way in which I or the community can be afforded procedural fairness or natural justice.
The board of inquiry identified lack of transparency and inappropriate practices in the council. The seven directives issued by the Minister on 16 June fail to address all the board’s 55 recommendations.
For a start, the Minister is leaving it to the general manager and the Heart of the Huon-dominated council to arrange mediation of its own problems. For the Minister to put such authority in the hands of a council declared dysfunctional by his own board of inquiry is akin to putting a boat out to sea with no motor, sails or rudder, and no destination.
The Minister’s directions lack substance and accountability. What they do present is an opportunity for the Heart of the Huon team of councillors to further undermine my position as mayor.
Today, communities are demanding that their leaders be more open in their deliberations and more accountable. In the case of the HVC, the Minister’s directives pave the way for management and councillors who resent my role as mayor with the opportunity to take more steps to arrange for my removal.
I promise residents of the Huon Valley that I will continue to represent them to the best of my ability as their mayor until such time as they decide that I should no longer continue in that position.
I would like to thank all those people who have urged me to not resign. I also thank other mayors in situations similar to mine for their inspiration, and for having the strength of character that allows them, with little or no support from government, to faithfully represent their communities.
I wish to reiterate my personal disappointment at the Minister’s decision and to say that I will continue in the office of Mayor as long as it takes to give the people of the valley a more transparent council.
It will become clear to all concerned, when HVC releases the reports commissioned by the general manager from the law firm Page Seager, that a majority of Huon Valley councillors were not supportive — I repeat, not supportive — of mediation. Rather, they were hell bent on removing me as mayor and replacing me with one chosen from among their own.
Should the Minister have a change of heart, and make a truly genuine commitment to work for a council that is transparent in its dealings and prepared to consult productively with its constituents, I will participate and cooperate in every respect.
• Mark Temby in Comments: Mr Gutwein’s lack of strategic direction, decision making capability and, ultimately, action is symptomatic of many in politics today. Specifically, he is no different to Hodgman, Groom or Hidding. They will stand to take credit but cannot point to any specific decisions that lead to achievements in tourism, industry, state budgets or council amalgamation. As an outsider to the process I remain curious as to why Mr Gutwein has not acted. His decision can only be seen as a measure of support for the HotH team and placing pressure on Mayor Coad. Is it simply a matter of most Independents in local council being closet LP members? I doubt it given none in the HVC example are worth the support. Has there been lobbying within government or from the business community? The only local ones under this scenario would be Paul Harriss, Robert Armstrong and those in southern forestry.
• Funding & Disclosure (Inc) in Comments: Mayor Coad was one of the candidates who chose transparency and declared all donations on the F&D (Inc) website at the last LG elections. Under current Tasmanian laws candidates can spend as much as they want on election campaigning and can accept money from anyone (including developers) with no obligation to declare anything. A clear recipe for corruption; as we saw in NSW before new laws were introduced. It was noted that none of the “Heart of the Huon” candidates declared their donations.
• Peter Cleary in Comments: As a Sydneysider who saw the light & relocated to Tasmania, and in particular, the Huon Valley two years ago, I’ve sensibly kept my head down, and my mouth shut as I’ve adjusted to living in a new State, and a new Community, reading and absorbing as much as I can about how things are down down here. Having seen how local Politics has been played out in various councils in greater Sydney, I’ve followed the local stoush very closely, and i just want to put in my two bob’s worth and say, “Hang in there Peter Coad!” you’ve won my vote.
