While I understand the onus on having the requisite evidence for criminal proceedings, surely the fact there is any evidence of impropriety in the election process compromises the result. You can’t be a little bit pregnant, so to speak. The cloud this leaves over the current council will not go away.
The system is flawed because integrity is a 100 per cent criteria for elected officials, but the system allows for a margin of error. We demand and deserve candidates who know they are running, who know what the job entails and what is required from them. We are seeing elected officials being booted out on technicalities in other governmental areas, yet we are expected to endure a clearly compromised group because a criminal threshold can’t be reached. No wonder those who campaign for appointed commissioners rather than an elected council are being heard.
We all knew something was NQR when we had 95 candidates for 11 vacancies. I am not confident the same scenario won’t be repeated at the next election. The recommendations from the inspectorate are sound and address the problem but it is a report we ratepayers need action on, not a 12-page sea of words.
This is by no means a slight on chief municipal inspector David Wolf, rather a reflection of the importance placed on this from the state government.
The credibility of local government will continue to be questioned. The quality of candidates will drop because those with professional standards and personal scruples will not want to be associated with something full of loopholes.
Bottom line is, the resolution is unsatisfactory and the future is still as clouded as ever.
