All local governments in Queensland were required from 1 March 2006 to have a Councillor Code of Conduct (pdf) in operation.
Council views this code as another way of demonstrating its commitment to open and accountable local government.
The code details the:
- Statutory obligations for councillors,
- Ethics principles for councillors,
- Criteria for a 'repeat breach' of the code, and
- Information about making a complaint. To make a complaint refer to the general complaints process.
Breaches of the code of conduct
The Crime and Misconduct Act 2001 (CMA) currently provides for official misconduct by councillors to be dealt with by the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC). The code of conduct framework provides a mechanism to deal with allegations of official misconduct that involve code breaches, should the CMC decide not to pursue a matter under the CMA.
The regulatory framework for councillor code of conduct identifies four different categories of code breaches:
- Meeting - code breaches involving misbehaviour at a council or committee meetings including verbal abuse, aggressive behaviour and offensive language;
- Statutory - behaviour that contravenes legislative provisions would not attract a penalty (e.g. direction of staff) or would not be pursued by the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) as official misconduct, e.g. breaches of material personal interest provisions, misuse of confidential information, breaches of hospitality provisions or inappropriate contact between councillors and council staff;
- Repeat - minor or meeting code breaches that are ongoing (i.e., four breaches within a six month period);
- Minor - code breaches that do not fall into the other three categories including breaches of behavioural standards outside meetings and inappropriate behaviour to other councillors or council employees.
Penalties for code breaches
The regulatory framework empowers Council to impose penalties on councillors found to have breached the code of conduct. Two types of penalties may apply:
- Written reprimand,
- Meeting suspension.
Council may use either or both penalties for a code breach. When a councillor is suspended from a meeting, the effect is similar to an MP being suspended from Parliament, i.e. they may not participate in the decision-making process for the period of the suspension.
Councillors may be suspended for up to two consecutive ordinary meetings for a statutory or repeat code breach, or for the remainder of a council meeting and up to one ordinary meeting for a minor or meeting code breach.
Review of code breach penalties
The code also provides for the establishment of a conduct review panel to provide an independent review of some code of conduct matters including statutory and repeat breaches. This panel will make recommendations to Council for decision and action.
Members of the review panel are appointed by Council in a similar way to local government advisory committees. The Panel must have at least three members and must make decisions on a majority basis.
Annual reporting of Breaches
Council will detail code breaches in its annual report. This will including:
- The number of code breaches by councillors,
- For each breach, the name of the councillor, a summary of the breach and the penalty imposed,
- The number of complaints about alleged code breaches (excluding frivolous or vexatious complaints) referred to the conduct review panel,
- The number of recommendations by the conduct review panel that were adopted or not adopted by Council,
- The number of complaints resolved under Council's general complaints process and the number which resulted in alleged code breaches, and
- The number of complaints being investigated by the Queensland Ombudsman about how Council enforces its code of conduct (as notified to Council).
The Queensland Ombudsman may also investigate complaints about how Council is enforcing its code of conduct.
Councillor Disclosure Requirements
For more information on Councillor disclosure requirements please contact the Governance Branch on 3412 5380.
Further Information
If you require further information about the Councillor code of conduct contact the Governance Branch on 3412 5358.