New Governance Rules proposed

Published on 28 September 2022

West Wimmera Shire residents are invited to provide feedback on Council’s new Governance Rules.

The Local Government Act 2020 requires every Council to adopt Governance Rules with respect to the conduct of Council meetings; the election of the Mayor and Deputy Mayor; an election period policy; and the disclosure of conflicts of interest.

Recent changes to the Local Government Act have meant Council’s current Governance Rules needed to be reviewed and updated.

The new proposed Governance Rules have been drafted with expert advice to incorporate changes under the Act, and to bring council’s rules in line with best practice.

Under the proposed Governance Rules, Council will continue to utilise newspapers where appropriate, however it might not always be practical to do so due to the size of the document, or time constraints.

While Council will endeavour to publish items in newspapers where possible, a blanket rule that everything should be published in a local newspaper is simply not practical and or realistic.

Community members are invited to view the proposed Governance Rules and provide feedback. The consultation period will be until 5pm on October 24.

Due to the size of the proposed Governance Rules document, it is not possible to publish it in entirety in a newspaper, however the community can view it online at westwimmera.vic.gov.au.

Council Chief Executive Officer David Bezuidenhout said the consultation period would be open for 28 days, as per Council’s engagement policy.

“We believe the 28-day consultation period is very generous and provides a reasonable opportunity for members of the community to provide feedback, if they wish to do so,” he said.

Once Council has had the opportunity to consider feedback on the proposed Governance Rules, the final rules will be adopted by Council and further feedback will be provided to the community.

Outside of this consultation period, West Wimmera Shire residents can provide feedback and suggestions to Council at any time through the Innovation Platform.

“Any member of the public that wants to suggest an improvement to Council business or service, or proposed project can do so anytime,” Mr Bezuidenhout said.

The Innovation Platform is available online at westwimmera.vic.gov.au/Have-Your-Say/West-Wimmera-Innovation-Platform or via hard copy forms at Kaniva and Edenhope customer service centres.