Geelong Council was officially sacked this week after an Independent Commission of Inquiry reported widespread bullying, dysfunction and “toxic culture” among councillors and Council staff. Administrators will manage the City of Greater Geelong until new elections are held in October, 2017. The question remains, however, what will happen to the Council staff who were found to be participants in this culture of toxicity. Should they not also be sacked so that we can start afresh? In fact, perhaps all of the staff should be sacked and new staff rehired on performance based contracts. In this way we can immediately get rid of those who forget that they are service providers to the people of Greater Geelong.

Our rates have been rising well beyond that which would be considered reasonable because of waste, bloated travel expenses, a spending on unnecessary “non-core” activities. It has recently been reported in the Herald Sun that:

• Geelong Council has spent $80,000 on media monitoring and $18,000 on tracking social media in 2015-16 and it has allocated $100,000 for a bronze statue of cyclist Cadel Evans (11 April, 2016 p 8);
• Ballarat Council is set to spend $30,000 on a bust of Tony Abbott (11 April, 2016 p 8);
• Casey Council spent $84,000 on an artwork called Expert and $10,000 on “maintaining the exclaimers in its staff email signatures” (11 April, 2016 p 8);
• Bayside Council spent $155,000 on silly sculptures such as dog bowls, old newspapers and deck chair (15 February, 2016 p 26);
• Bass Coast Shire spent nearly $2 million on consultants (15 February, 2016 p 26);
• Kingston Council spent $340,000 on a Kingston Green Wedge Plan in 2014 (15 February, 2016 p 7);
• Moreland Council, which spends $73 million on wages for a 1000 strong workforce spend $2,500 on a documentary on its $500,000 campaign with Yarra Council to halt the East West Link (15 February, 2016 p 7);
• Central Goldfields spent $70,000 in 2012 to cover legal costs of a councillor found guilty of a conflict of interest (15 February, 2016 p 7);
• Hume spent $50,000 in 2014 on art made of blackboards (15 February, 2016 p 7);
• Councils have splurged ratepayers’ money on firms to lobby governments. Port Phillip Council spent $68,000 to get government relations advice; Maribyrnong paid consultants $46,458.02 to “ensure its message was right” (26th February, 2016 p 25).

What a waste. Doesn’t this prove that Councillors are incapable of ensuring good financial management? It also proves that Council Chief Executives, who earn as much, if not more, than our Prime Minister, and Council staff  are not necessarily interested in, and in accord with, the interest of the ratepayers. My suggestion are:

• Sack all Councils and start again with a new standard constitution for each which outlines the responsibilities and limits of councillors; one which places ratepayers’ needs at the forefront;
• All Council staff, especially Chief Executives, are placed on performance based contracts with strict standards and ensuring that non-performance with standards enables their easy removal; and
• A small independent committee to review performance and has the power to sack staff and councillors. This committee could also review spending proposals for reasonableness.

We need to start again. Sacking a council should only be the start of the process.