Sacked Central Goldfields Shire councillors claim to have been made scapegoats for their shire’s administrative failings by the state government who “stepped in to look like tough guys”.
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And as a collective, they believe Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins was overruled by superiors within the government to dismiss the council in the interest of political gain.
“We all know that the shire sits within one of the most marginal seats in the state, the government desperately wants it back,” Cr Chris Meddows-Taylor said.
“Of course there is discontent in the community, we accept that. To capitalise on that the government has stepped in to look like tough guys.”
Related: Central Goldfields Shire sacked
Councillors were sacked on Wednesday following last week’s damning report by the state’s local government inspectorate, which revealed extensive financial and administrative failings by the shire, including losses from the sale of council assets.
They did however distance themselves from failings detailed in the report, suggesting it was not their responsibility under the Local Government Act to involve themselves in the administration of the shire.
“We expect the CEO to run the administration in keeping with the Local Government Act and it is clear from the (local government inspectorate) report that didn’t happen,” Cr Chris Meddows-Taylor said.
Cr Paula Nixon said the inference that councillors were dishonest was “insulting”.
“We live in this community, we’ve got children and grandchildren that live in this community. To question our integrity is just insulting,” she said.
“We’re the ‘crooked’ ones.”
Councillors described Minister Hutchins explanation for its prompt action to sack the shire as “bunkum”.
Minister Hutchins said on Wednesday the government took the swift action because it did not “have a very good indication from council that they were going to take this report seriously”.
The shire’s mayor Geoff Lovett said “that couldn’t be further from the truth”.
Minister Hutchins has been contacted for comment.
