Councillors accused of misconduct will no longer automatically have their legal costs paid by ratepayers under proposed changes to the Local Government Act.
Greg Charter, a spokesman for Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell, said that under the changes, a council would only be liable for a councillor’s costs when the council was the applicant in VCAT or had sought to become a party.
“A council will not be liable for costs when an individual councillor has applied for the matter to go to VCAT instead of a councillor conduct panel,” Mr Charter said.
Last August, Hobsons Bay mayor Tony Briffa was ordered by a councillor conduct panel to undergo counselling and mentoring after he sent emails to local woman Maureen Short and wrote to her employer demanding she be sacked after she campaigned for a local soil treatment plant.
In September, Cr Briffa was ordered before another councillor conduct panel for serious misconduct relating to the same matter, but the matter was referred to VCAT, where it is ongoing.
He reportedly spent $20,000 on legal advice in relation to the first panel hearing and has reportedly accumulated legal expenses of more than $56,400.
