Just caught up on the worst political response to COVID-19 of any government in Aust: City of Shoalhaven. Despite best efforts by an excellent & collaborative mayor, the imperious small govt blokes have found the numbers to gut the council’s development assessment function.

The council is heavily divided, with the ‘Independents Group’ (the biggest party on the council with 5/13 votes, often supplemented by 2 of the 3 Libs) undermining the mandate of the City-wide popularly elected mayor at every opportunity, even during bushfire & pandemic recovery.

Passing motions at Council meetings designed to put the mayor in the minority has become a political tool by the ‘Independents Group’ to highlight division and weaken the mayor. They decided long ago that collegiality is not an option; their MO is to wreck, crisis or not.

It’s gotten so ridiculous that the council is passing illegal resolutions. A ‘non-collection of rates’ resolution from 24 March breached the NSW LG Act, was passed without officer advice (because it was another swifty designed to gazump the mayor), and so was unimplementable.

The extraordinary council meeting 6 days ago takes the cake though. It started with the council voting down the mayoral minute setting out support for the municipality during the pandemic. No amendments, just defeated. This was a precursor to the worst resolution I’ve ever seen.

The ‘Independents Group’s Councillor Guile (aptly named) issued a short detail-free motion on notice, but then moved a pages-long, detailed motion without notice at the meeting. It was passed 7 votes to 6 and does the following batshit crazy things:

1. No development applications can be refused under delegation no matter how poor they are. Only Council/Committee may refuse an application. (With the indication of where the numbers lie this will flood the Council with incomplete and poor applications).

2. Any application with council 90 days or more to be considered by the next meeting of Councillors no matter what state it is in. (Even if incomplete, see 3 to 5 below.)

3. Development applications must be acknowledged and an invoice for fees rendered on the same business day they are received. (Even if at 4.55pm presumably. And even if the applications are incomplete.)

4. Requires officers to make assessments without seeking additional information on applications in most cases, and not ‘stopping the statutory clock’ when requesting additional information. (This will guarantee poor applications and assessments.)

5. Determine the largest development applications within 21 days. (The largest applications normally need the longest period of time; this is yet another mechanism to rush and fudge an assessment.)

6. Take staff out of the planning compliance unit. (This is illegal, Council can’t direct the CEO to do this.)

7. Halve development contribution fees while retaining council’s obligation to build the infrastructure being contributed to. (Thus destroying the council’s ability to build infrastructure in future.)

8. Makes a flat payment of $300 per rate assessment to the ratepayer. (No budget impact assessment, and no consideration that such a mechanism misses the poorest entirely (non-property owners).)

9. In amongst the rest of this, a direction that the “mute function” on Zoom “must not be used to silence a Councillor”. Focus, guys.

The resolution does a lot more too: https://shoalhaven.infocouncil.biz/Open/2020/04/CL_20200407_MIN_16184_EXTRA_WEB.htm (go to MIN20.240).

Obviously the CEO and staff will now be working overtime to figure out how to deal with the resolution, how to rule out the illegal aspects and how to interpret the incredibly badly written sections. This is what they will be doing instead of emergency response work.

But the ramifications of the resolution are incredible. It is clearly and obviously designed by bombastic men who do not know what they are doing but who know the general ideological direction they want to lurch towards, to stop the council’s planners from doing their jobs.

Think of what that means in an area where bushfire recovery will require a lot of development activity. Incomplete applications and rushed assessments risks new development that is not bushfire ready the next time we have a summer like 19/20.

These councillors represent Lake Conjola for crying out loud, and they want all development to be rushed, lack any oversight and to not have the support of council’s planners to assist mum and dad developers to make efficient and sensible choices.

This ‘red tape bonfire’ zealotry, designed to do the opposite of what the mayor and administration want to do, isn’t just infighting. It’s the gleeful destruction of a planning system that exists to assess development against rules designed to keep humans alive and healthy.

Andrew Guile and his gang are a disgrace to local government. We’re in the middle of a pandemic. Either help in a constructive fashion, or resign.

@scregister @ShoalhavenCC @pia_planning @LGNSW