Council Members, Code of Conduct

1438 The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (24 September 2019). Many member code of conduct disputes involve councils obtaining legal advice, or the support of mediation services through consultants, often at great expense to councils. What is the aggregate cost of council member code of conduct disputes across the state?

The Hon. S.K. KNOLL (Schubert—Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government, Minister for Planning): I have been advised the following—

Under the current provisions of the Local Government Act 1999 (the act), councils are responsible for managing behavioural matters under the Code of Conduct for Council Members (the Member Code). The member code is clear that breaches of part 2 (behavioural code) should be dealt with at a council level, but allows each council to determine a process to do so that best fits their own needs. Councils, therefore, deal with behavioural code matters under their own policies. Some councils choose to implement a policy that requires complaints to be directly handled by external legal firms, or determine when and how mediation may be beneficial, with resultant costs for the council.

As part of the local government reform program, I have asked the local government sector to provide details about the cost of dealing with these matters.

The Reforming Local Government in South Australia Discussion Paper was released on 5 August 2019. A number of the discussion paper's 72 proposals relate to a new conduct management framework for council members. It is anticipated that a new framework will make a clearer distinction between lower level 'behavioural' matters that will continue to be dealt with at a council level, and more serious 'integrity' matters that should be investigated and dealt with by an independent body. This should enable councils to deal with behavioural matters in a way that is suitable and appropriate for them and their communities.

Submissions on the discussion paper have been requested by 1 November.