2019-11-12 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                         12 NOVEMBER 2019


18                       LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEGISLATIVE REFORMS - STAGE 2
DOCUMENT INFORM AT ION




Author                           Governance Advisor, Diana Stewart
                                 Executive Services Department

Index                            ECM/ Subject/ Council Meetings General

Attachments                      Nil



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Governance Advisor to the Services & Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 12 November 2019 and note that the Queensland Parliament passed
the Local Government Electoral (Implementing Stage 2 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation
Amendment Bill 2019 resulting in numerous changes impacting on Councils and Councillors as
outlined in this report.


REPORT
In August 2019, Council received a report from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) outlining an
update on the proposed legislative reforms to Queensland’s Local Government Act 2009.
Subsequently, this report focusses on the recently passed Local Government Electoral
(Implementing Stage 2 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 and the impacts
it will have on Council and Councillors.
1.                       Background
Since 2017, the Queensland Government has been pursuing a rolling reform agenda to
strengthen the transparency, accountability and integrity measures that apply to the system of
local government and elections in Queensland. Local government reforms follow the release of
the Crime and Corruption Commission’s (CCC) Belcarra Report1 which found that good
government requires elections to be held on a level playing field, with equal participation
available to all. The report also stressed the need for complete transparency about who
candidates are, how their campaigns are funded, their interests and affiliations, and their
relationship with other candidates.
Following the Belcarra report and on 17 May 2018, Queensland Parliament passed two pieces of
legislation of great importance to local government, namely the Local Government Electoral
(Implementing Stage 1 of Belcarra) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 and the Local
Government (Councillor Complaints) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018.
As such, stage 1 reforms commenced on assent (21 May 2018) and included prohibition of
donations from property developers and a new regime for managing councillor conflicts of
interest (COIs) and material personal interests (MPI). In particular, these reforms were focused
on strengthening the process associated with the declaration of Councillor conflicts of interest,
the management of conflicts of interest and material personal interests within Council meetings


1 Crime and Corruption Commission, Operation Belcarra – A blueprint for integrity and addressing corruption risk in

Local Government, 4 October 2017.

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