2017-02-07 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                 7 FEBRUARY 2017


2      Gifts and Benefits Register and Recording Thresholds

The Gifts and Benefits Register will be maintained by Council’s Governance Team and made
available for internal viewing via the Intranet and ECM. The Policy provides that:
 All gifts received by an employee (including Senior Executive Employees) over an estimated
   value of $100 must be recorded on the Register;
 All gifts received by Councillors totalling more than $500 must be recorded on the Register;
   and
 Any gift received below the prescribed thresholds, or any gift offered and not accepted by a
   Councillor or employee of any value may be recorded on the Register at the Councillor or
   employee’s discretion.

3      Councillor thresholds
The recording threshold value for gifts received by Councillors is aligned to Councillors’ statutory
obligations with respect to individual register of interests as prescribed by section 291 of the LGR.
This is considered appropriate as if the Queensland Parliament intended a lower value, they would
have legislated it. From an administrative perspective, this is also practical as when a Councillor
updates their individual register, the central register can be updated by Governance at the same
time.

4      Employee thresholds
Section 199(3) of the Local Government Act 2009 (LGA) provides that a local government
employee must not ask for, or accept, a fee or other benefit for doing something as a local
government employee. However, section 199(4) of the LGA provides that the above provision does
not apply to a benefit that has only nominal value.

Legislative commentary provided by the LGAQ outlines that section 199(4) of the LGA allows a
grateful constituent to say ‘thank you’ with a gift of nominal value. Whilst nominal value is not
defined in the LGA it is considered that anything up to $100 would not attract any rational concern.

In light of the above, the Policy requires that appropriate gifts to employees can only be accepted
by the recipient if it is in the public interest and approved by the employee’s Director or CEO. If the
estimated value of the relevant gift is above $100 the details must be recorded on the register.

5      Policy Implementation

Following Policy approval by Council, a decision making guide flow chart with a number of practical
examples will be distributed to Councillors and employees to support good and ethical decision
making with respect to the management of gifts and benefits.

Previous Council Consideration

Nil.

Finance & Risk

Failing to have clear guidance around the management of gifts and benefits offered to Councillors
and employees exposes Council to an increased risk of uncertainty around the effective
management of gifts and benefits offered to Councillors and employees, which could create a
perception of influence leading to a decisions that may not be in the best interest of Council or the
community.




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