a typical example of pollie speak at Freo council

Fremantle council June 24th meeting - questions and answers (?)

The Deputy Mayor, Cr John Dowson declared the meeting open at 6.00 pm and
welcomed members of the public to the meeting. He made a special welcome to
Fremantle MP Adel Carles and former Fremantle Councillor, Frank Acacella.
(Adel spoke passionately about her concerns about the Fremantle Markets but I was unable to find anything in the minutes to refect her statements)

Deputy Mayor Cr J Dowson made the following statement:

With reference to the front page story in the current Fremantle Herald where the Mayor
accuses me of ‘blatant politicking’, of putting three notices of motion to Council knowing
that he and Cr Thompson would be away, and of preferring ‘to talk to his Liberal mates
rather then his fellow councillors’, I wish to set the record straight.

Firstly, in terms of politicking, I am simply trying to have Council deal with urgent and
important issues which the Mayor has ignored.

Secondly, I did not know that the Mayor and Cr Thompson would be away. I did not know
that Cr Thompson would be away until I sat down with him to discuss my Notice of
Motion regarding the SMRC. And, the Mayor certainly never told me he was going to be
away. In my four years as a Deputy Mayor he has never had the courtesy to give
adequate notice of any absence.

"The Mayor is absent tonight for the forth full Council meeting in a row (except for one appearance during public question time)."

Regardless of their presence or absence, the three Notices of Motion I have tabled are
urgent and need to be dealt with.

Thirdly, it is to be deplored that the Mayor, who ran for the Labor Party in the recent state
election, brings party politics into this chamber by deriding my talks with two
parliamentarians for the areas affected by the SMRC plant, who just happen to be from
the Liberal Party.

Mr Richard Murphy spoke in relation to the Fremantle Markets on a clause in the Head
Lease in relation to the protection of the stallholders and asked where that clause came
from? He also asked who is responsible for there being no adequate protection for the
stallholders in the head lease?

Director Corporate Services, Glen Dougall replied that he would have to take the first
question on notice and believed that the second question was rhetorical.
Seems pretty clear to me - where is the rhetoric? What was that answer?

Cr Dowson asked why he still has no response to his questions asked to the Mayor now
two meetings ago.

(Q1 Resignation: On 14th April I wrote to you concerning the Fremantle By-election
and asked that you resign your position as mayor immediately because you are a
candidate for a Labor Party seat and that in my view your resignation would be “in
the best interests of focused and clear governance.” I have not received a
response to my question. Will you please answer my question.
Q2 Governance: Council passed a resolution that the mayor could not meet with
government or business leaders without the presence of the relevant Senior
Executive model. It appears that this Council resolution has been ignored. Please
indicate:
a) How many times and on which occasions you have breached this resolution?
b) Why the Council resolution has allegedly been breached?)

Director Corporate Services, Glen Dougall replied that under the Local Government Act
an Elected Member is not required to answer a question asked by another Elected
Member. Mmmm

Mr Colin Wright spoke as the secretary of the Fremantle Stallholders Association at the
Fremantle Markets, he spoke in concern to a number of breaches he believes that the
Fremantle Markets Pty Ltd have committed and are continuing to commit. He asked the
following questions:

1. Does the City have the power to enforce the Markets not to increase rent until the
alleged breach has been resolved?
2. Why has the Working Group ignored the quarterly meetings set up by the
Stallholder Association to discuss various issues?
3. Mr Wright has been told by the Murdoch's have now identified another 20-30 stalls
that are incompatible with the new direction of the markets, what will happen to
these stallholders?
4. Why have all of these breaches, other than the rent increases, not been
addressed as a matter of urgency?
5. Who developed the Terms of Reference? Did the City engage Hochkin Hanly?
Why didn't the City prepare the brief?
6. Can he get a copy of the Terms of Reference?

Director Corporate Services, Glen Dougall replied that as a result from meetings with
lawyers and Fremantle Markets Pty Ltd it was decided to concentrate on the rent
increases as it was considered as the most urgent issue as some of the other issues
were being challenged. Mr Dougall will provide Mr Wright with a copy of the Terms of
Reference.
Nice little side-step. Howerver, Deputy Mayor Dowson caught it and gave confirmation that the information would be emailed asap (Dowson should run for mayor in the upcoming election - right on the ball!)

Mr Nicholas Gerr asked the following questions:

1. On what basis can the Mayor or any Council Officer arbitrarily refuse to answer a
question or questions asked of them during the question time of a Council
meeting?
2. Does the CEO of the City have the authority to demand that the Mayor or Council
Officer provide an answer to a question or questions asked of him during the
question time of a Council meeting?
3. On the occasions that a question is Taken on Notice what is the usual time
interval before a response can reasonably be expected to the question?
4. Are there any legislated penalties applicable to those Council staff and/or Officers
who refuse to answer a question or questions presented to them by the public
during question time?
5. I would like to take the questions asked to Mayor by the Cr Dowson two meetings
ago on as my own. Which are:

Q1 Resignation: On 14th April I wrote to you concerning the Fremantle Byelection
and asked that you resign your position as mayor immediately
because you are a candidate for a Labor Party seat and that in my view
your resignation would be “in the best interests of focused and clear
governance.” I have not received a response to my question. Will you
please answer my question.

Q2 Governance: Council passed a resolution that the mayor could not meet
with government or business leaders without the presence of the relevant
Minutes - Ordinary Meeting of Council24 June 2009Page 4
Senior Executive model. It appears that this Council resolution has been
ignored. Please indicate:
a) How many times and on which occasions you have breached this resolution?
b) Why the Council resolution has allegedly been breached?

Director Corporate Services, Glen Dougall replies:

1. Questions taken on notice at public question time are supposed to be responded
to on a reasonable basis.
2. The Local Government Act is the governing body that requires for questions to be
responded to that are taken on notice.
3. Under the Local Government Act it states that a reasonable response in a
reasonable time is to be provided. Generally a month is considered reasonable.
4. There are no penalties I am aware of provided under the Act for failure to answer
questions that are taken on notice, however I am sure the Department of Local
Government to the issues and they would look into it, if it was raised with them.
5. I have also noted that you have now taken Cr Dowson’s previous questions on
notice.
I also notice it has still not been answered


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