Press release September 19 – Cr Liz Smith
I have written to the Minister for Local Government, Peter Gutwein, explaining my reasons for deciding that I will no longer be participating in mediation as part of the Ministerial Directions in the structure established by the council.
This is because I reached the conclusion that there has been little, if any, apparent change in the culture of the majority of councillors since the release of the Board of Inquiry report and the Ministerial Directions, despite the training provided to councillors by the Local Government Association of Tasmania and the Local Government Division.
I had hoped that the Board of Inquiry report, by highlighting the issues, would result in fundamental changes in the culture of the council.. To this point there has been little more than an exercise in “ticking the boxes” without addressing the underlying problems.
The opposition of the majority of councillors to the mayor’s contributing to all council committees by being an ex-officio member (in accordance with recommendation 38 of the Board of Inquiry) is a demonstration of the ongoing culture and the lack of respect for the position of an elected leader, and without that respect there is no future for mediation.
Similarly, the lack of support for the motion that I proposed at the August 31 council meeting to get a report on the Human Resources unit of council so that we, as councillors, could properly fulfil the functions for which we were elected, demonstrated that the majority of councillors want to continue with “business as usual”. Their decision also appears to have been influenced by verbal advice provided by the General Manager at the council meeting.
In addition, with the withdrawal of the democratically-elected mayor from the mediation, the process cannot bring benefit for the Huon Valley Council and its ratepayers.
Liz Smith, Councillor, Huon Valley Council
