Wyndham council will not be sacked, the organisation’s chief executive has claimed.
The Age is reporting that Wyndham is among 13 Victorian councils that will be disqualified on September 1 for failing to sign the new councillor code of conduct. It has reported that administrators will replace councillors.
But the council’s chief executive Kelly Grigsby is confident that the reports are not true.
“The Inspectorate has confirmed that the tenure of Wyndham council is not in jeopardy,” she said.
“All Wyndham councillors reaffirmed their commitment to the councillor code of conduct within the prescribed time period and the appropriate documentation was provided to the Inspectorate.”
Western metropolitan Liberal MP Bernie Finn slammed the state government for being “clear as mud” on the sackings.
“If you’re going to remove so many councillors so close to an election, you’d want to explain in very clear terms why you’re doing it,” Mr Finn said.
“This is a dog’s breakfast, but this government specialises in dog’s breakfasts.”
Mr Finn called on the Minister for Local Government to sack Wyndham council last year. He said: “so much pain could’ve been avoided” if his comments were taken seriously at the time.
In a statement from acting Local Government Minister Richard Wynne read on 3AW, the reports were not denied.
“The government will consider the report from the Chief Municipal Officer and correspondence from a number of councils regarding the issue to ensure ratepayers do not suffer as a result of council administrative errors.”
