Question No: 2723 Asked by: Mr Clifford Hayes (Member for Southern Metropolitan)
Question: To ask the Minister for Local Government: In relation to the former Minister for Local Government, the Hon Adem Somyurek’s correspondence to the South Gippsland Shire Council of 2 April 2019, which stated “I will make the monitor report and any Council or Councillor responses public once any submissions from the Council have been duly considered”, and noting the Minister’s response to Question on Notice No. 1876, which stated that “It would not be appropriate for me to release correspondence that has not been endorsed by a Council”
(1) Does this response mean that the Minister does not intend to honour the undertaking of the former Minister and make publicly available the response by the South Gippsland Shire Council, the individual submission by Councillor Aaron Brown, and the legal submission by Kellehers Lawyers.
(2) If Councillors release their own submissions, as the Minister’s response to Question on Notice No. 1876 suggests they are free to do, would this be a breach of the Local Government Act or any other local government rule.
Reply:
As per my previous response, I will not be making public any correspondence received by the former Minister for Local Government from the former councillors as it is inappropriate for a Minister to release representations that are not from the council as a whole and have not been endorsed. If any person wishes to release these documents, it is their responsibility to ensure they are complying with the requirements of local government legislation and any other legislation that may be relevant, such as the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic).
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