A new policy to proactively declare councillors' potential conflicts of interests before they arise is set to be voted on at a Hobart City Council meeting this evening.
If passed, it will bring the council in line with other capital city councils around Australia.
Under the new policy, how many properties councillors own, which companies they hold shares in, and major income sources could all become publicly available from April.
What would have to be disclosed?
Under the Local Government Act, there is already a requirement for councillors to declare a potential conflict or pecuniary interest in matters before they come up in council meetings, as well as a requirement to declare any gifts received.
At a council meeting this evening, councillors and aldermen will vote on whether or not to go further by establishing a public interests register, which would proactively outline potential conflicts of interest.
Under the proposed policy, things that would have to be reported by Hobart elected members would include shareholdings in companies, business trusts, land owned — excluding primary residences — sponsored travel or hospitality received over the value of $300, and any other interests where a conflict of interest with public duties could arise.
The register would be compulsory, published online, and made accessible to the public on request. It would also be advertised across multiple platforms once every calendar year and consider the interests of elected members' partners.
A separate policy, which would require councillors to disclose any contact they have had with property developers each month — including who the contact was with and the type of contact — is also set to be discussed.
How does it compare to other states?
According to the report compiled by Hobart City Council staff, the creation of a public interests register would be "consistent with the legislative approach in several other jurisdictions at all three levels of government".
Council staff also noted that it was "apparent that in most other jurisdictions such a register is mandated through legislation" rather than a local policy as is being proposed here — the main difference being the avenues for reprimanding councillors who did not adhere.
For example, in Queensland, CEOs, mayors and councillors are guided by their Local Government Act as to what they have to disclose and repercussions they could face for not complying.
A selection of those interests have to be publicly accessible, and all have to be reported to the council's CEO.
In Melbourne, it is the Victorian Local Government Act which dictates the parameters of a council's public interests register.
Interests have to be published online, and the range of disclosures required was expanded in 2020 in recognition that increased transparency boosts public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the decision-making process.
Tasmania has a reactive, rather than proactive system, according to the chief executive of the Local Government Association of Tasmania Dion Lester.
"There's a recognition amongst our sector that our framework that's operating in Tasmania at the moment could be improved," Mr Lester said.
"We're certainly having discussions at the moment around what whole sector policies could be adopted to bring us closer to alignment with what's occurring in other jurisdictions."
Those discussions, he said, included early talks with the state government.
"I think we can expect to see action on this front throughout the year ... I'm confident that towards the end of this year, we'll see the majority of Tasmanian councils considering, or having adopted, a policy similar to what Hobart is proposing," he said.
Striking the right balance is key
What will make up a chunk of those discussions, Mr Lester predicted, was ensuring it was clear to all involved when an interest would classify as a conflict.
"In most councils, these individuals have had a long history of participation in various sporting and other volunteer groups, and it's about finding a line where it's appropriate to participate in a decision versus when that councillor should remove themselves," Mr Lester said.
"That's going to be one of the areas where the sector debates what level of disclosure is appropriate.
"It's critical that a policy for managing interests recognises what is a material interest versus what is not — precisely for the reason that we don't want these registers to be weaponised to stifle debate, or to prevent someone from participating in a decision when they're able to."
Hobart City Councillor Ryan Posselt, who brought the motion to explore a public interests register to the council in December last year, said it was all about improving transparency.
"There's a federal parliament register of interests and a state parliament register of interests, and I don't see why we should be held to a different standard compared to other states or other levels of government," Cr Posselt said.
"We should be aiming to be the most transparent and accountable to the ratepayers we can because it results in better decision-making."
