A Wyndham councillor has defended his decision to abstain from voting at council meetings four times this year, saying he didn’t have enough information to cast informed votes.
Harrison ward’s Intaj Khan was one of three councillors to exercise the right to abstain in the past year.
Changes to the Local Government Act last year granted councillors the power to refrain from voting at meetings.
Wyndham councillors have refused to cast a vote six times since being elected on October 27, 2012.
Cr Gautam Gupta was the first councillor to exercise the new right, abstaining from voting last December on the provision of lap lanes and temporary gym facilities for the Wyndham Leisure and Events Centre (WLEC) redevelopment.
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Cr Khan abstained from voting twice at council’s February meeting, avoiding having a say on when the WLEC should be closed and on the awarding of contracts for three council reserves.
He also abstained from voting in August on the issues of the Wests Road landfill and a council decision to close the temporary gym at WLEC.
Cr Adele Hegedich also failed to cast a vote in August, abstaining on the issue of the fire services levy.
Cr Khan said he abstained from voting on issues relating to the WLEC and the landfill because he felt he was not informed enough to make a decision.
“I asked for more information [from council officers] but didn’t get it in time to make a proper decision,” he said. “I don’t want to oppose and vote against something that I don’t know enough information about.
“We are spending a lot of money on the leisure centre, so I wanted to make sure I was making an informed decision.”
Chief executive Kerry Thompson said councillors had abstained from voting “a very small number” of times, given that council had voted on more than 200 matters in the past year.
However, she said Wyndham’s new governing framework made it clear that abstaining from voting was discouraged.
