By Gabrielle Costa
THE City of Maribyrnong will raise concerns with the state’s financial watchdog about a recent report that found four out of five planning matters were not dealt with properly.
The report, by Auditor-General Des Pearson, studied planning applications at six Victorian councils, including Maribyrnong.
It found in 78 per cent of the cases studied, councillors were making decisions on planning applications using reports prepared by council staff that “did not give adequate consideration to matters specified in the (Planning and Environment) Act, (local) planning scheme or both”.
Last week, Maribyrnong mayor Michelle MacDonald hit out at the report, saying the six councils had been lumped in together, regardless of individual performance. She said that was “extremely disappointing”.
“The report process was fundamentally flawed, presenting numerous inaccuracies and sweeping generalisations about the councils audited,” she said.
“Whatever process one council did incorrectly, the report made it appear as though all councils did that process incorrectly, even if that was not the case … Grouping these councils and their outputs together does not present an accurate portrayal of planning procedures across Victoria.”
Cr MacDonald said that in August last year council officers at Maribyrnong were given a preliminary verbal report from the Auditor-General’s office “at which the auditors did not express any significant concern for any processes undertaken by council, and in fact, praised council for having sound and compliant practices”.
She said a draft of the report was requested but never supplied.
“Council is very concerned about the defamatory effects the reports could have on the community’s perception of our planning practices, which staff and councillors practice the utmost diligence in,” she said.
The council will contact the local government organisation, the Municipal Association of Victoria, to ask for its help advocating on behalf of the councils in the report.
“We will also be filing the matter with the Office of the Auditor-General directly,” she said.
A spokesman for the Auditor-General said the councils were chosen at random and a conscious decision was made about referring to them in aggregate. He said it was clear from the report that two out of the six councils studied were performing adequately.
