A LAST-MINUTE move by Mornington Peninsula Shire has blocked a controversial plan that would have considered councillor interstate travel without going before public meetings.
Councillors were presented a draft councillor expenses and support policy report ahead of their 2 September meeting to consider for endorsement.
The report initially said that key changes proposed was to remove the need for councillors to decide in a majority vote about whether to approve interstate travel and expenses over $2000, which would have instead been up to the shire’s CEO Mark Stoermer “to improve efficiency while maintaining accountability”.
But in an about-face following public scrutiny and media coverage, the shire’s management revised the draft policy document just hours before the 6.30pm meeting by reinstating councillor oversight for interstate or overseas travel.
The report stated this was “maintaining existing transparency and accountability measures” – but the policy maintained that a councillor vote would be removed to approve training and conference expenses for over $2000, which would be left up to the CEO to endorse.
The shire’s governance manager would review any claims less than $2000 while the mayor’s additional $3500 allowance would be ditched as part of the policy’s changes.
A shire report said a budget limit of $16,000 per councillor over a four-year term to attend training, conferences and seminars remained “unchanged, but approval process significantly streamlined”.
Councillors unanimously approved the revised policy.
Deputy mayor Cr Paul Pingiaro said the updated policy “brings important improvements to the way councillor expenses, and professional development are managed”.
“It streamlines the approval process for training and conferences while maintaining the accountability and transparency our community expects when it comes to travel,” he said.
“This is a very important safeguard that ensures councillors remain accountable for higher profile travel decisions and the community can see clearly how these decisions are made.
“For me, that’s the job of council to form part of the pub test, not for councillors to fly to the pub to sit the test. The policy also strengthens transparency by publishing a public register of councillors training, conferences and events.”
According to the policy, mandatory professional development for councillors is funded from an existing budget to “ensure councillors have the skills and knowledge required to fulfil their required responsibilities”.
“Reimbursements are only provided for reasonable, eligible expenses incurred while undertaking official council business, with all claims assessed against the policy’s strict criteria,” it said.
“All allowances, reimbursements and professional development expenses are publicly reported each month to maintain transparency and community confidence.”
First published in the Mornington News – 9 September 2025