Ratepayers Victoria Inc

Maroondah Leader

Tuesday April 12 2005

City travel bill tops $100,000

By Caroline Gonzalez

Alice Springs, Cairns and Perth were among destinations visited by Maroondah councillors and staff who notched up $100,412 in travel expenses in the past three years.

The council’s travel register, inspected by the Leader last week, lists interstate trips of three days or more. Of the $100,412, $87,933 was met by ratepayers.

Under the Local Government Act, details of travel, must be lodged on a register and be available for public inspection.

Cr Gurr travelled the most out of the seven councillors, venturing interstate 10 times, at a total cost of $19,776.

Cr Gurr mostly went to tourism and local government conferences, including the EcoTourism Conference in the Blue Mountains last year.

In October, 2003, Cr Gurr went to Canberra to meet with Federal Liberal Party members Phil Barresi and Tony Smith. But Cr Gurr said last week it was a private meeting that should not have been on the register.

He said other trips had resulted in the council joining the Cities for Climate Protection program and gaining funding for the Colchester Rd upgrade.

“I think there’s a lot of benefit (in attending interstate conferences),” Cr Gurr said.

Councillors Neil Rose and Maureen Naylor were the next most travelled, each going interstate six times.

Councillors Joe Cossari and Les Willmott went on four trips each, while Cr Jo-anne Taylor travelled once in the three-year period.

The most amount of money spent at one time was in 2002 when seven councillors sent four nights in the Northern Territory for the Australian Local Governance Association’s National General Assembly, incurring a bill of $21,998.

Last year the council spent $32,482 on travel, up from the $21,725 it spent in 2003 and down from the 2002 figure of $46,206. No trips have been recorded so far this year.

Victorian local Governance Association president Andrew Rowe said attending conferences gave councillors and staff the opportunity to learn from other councils and to lobby federal and state parliamentarians for local projects and causes. “We think this is part of doing local government well,” he said.

But Maroondah Residents and Ratepayers Association Marguerite Byrne said councillors should publicly table reports on all travel to make them more accountable to ratepayers who were their “employers”.