‘Not how a healthy democracy is meant to function’: council ‘gag order’ passes

Hobsons Bay City Council has formally adopted restrictive new media and secrecy policies, despite a fierce last-minute stand by a bloc of councillors who warned the move marked the end of transparent local democracy and likened it to “Big Brother” state oversight.

The western suburbs council on Tuesday night voted to pass the controversial Media Policy and Councillor Confidentiality Policy, effectively centralising all public communication under the mayor and shielding internal briefing documents from public view.

The vote split the chamber, passing 4-3, with Deputy Mayor Lisa Bentley, and councillors Daria Kellander and Michael Disbury voting against the measures.

The proposed media policy designates the mayor as the “principal spokesperson” for the council, and prohibits other councillors from providing media comment without the mayor’s “discretion and approval”.

A separate confidentiality policy also passed, which classifies all agendas, officer papers and presentations for councillor briefing meetings as “internal documents” shielded from public view.

“This council confidential policy is not about good governance. It’s about control,” Bentley said. “It’s about restricting the very people who elected you... it’s about reducing transparency at the exact moment our community deserves it more, not less”

Councillor Daria Kellander said, “councillors are not employees of the communications department. We are directly elected representatives accountable to our communities, not to a bureaucratic approval process... This is not how a healthy democracy is meant to function”.

However, the council’s pro-policy bloc–including Councillors Kristin Bishop, Paddy Keys-Macpherson, Rayane Hawli and the Mayor Diana Grima– defended the changes as a necessary “uplift” of governance standards.

“Individual councillors are simply not authorised to make their own opinions the position of Council, and that is essentially what is being prevented by this policy,” said Bishop.

Earlier in the day Bentley suggested councillors were being “strong-armed” into accepting the rules – which appeared in the council agenda five days ago – under state government intervention at the council.

“In my opinion, this is strong-armed tactics coming from [the state government], which has appointed monitors to become essentially Big Brother at our council,” she said.

In separate statements to The Age, a council and a state government spokesperson denied any suggestion that any threats had been made to extend the term of state-appointed monitors if the policies were blocked.

“Council policies put forward for consideration are entirely a matter for Hobsons Bay City Council and any suggestion otherwise is false,” the state government spokesman said.

Disbury said the changes were an attempt to “gag” elected officials. “It will severely restrict what I can say... I will be subject to sanctions and possibly loss of my pay,” he said.

Community advocate Gill Gannon feared councillors would be “muzzled” over “red-hot” issues, including the Williamstown Lifesaving Club redevelopment and imminent road closures.

“You can’t represent your community if you’re not able to speak,” said Gannon, who is also running as a candidate for The West Party in the seat of Williamstown for the upcoming state election.

On Monday night, Kingston City Council in Melbourne’s south-east accepted changes to its governance rules to expand the chief executive’s power to reject notices of motion. Both councils are under the oversight of the same state-appointed municipal monitor, John Tanner. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on Tanner’s part.

Municipal monitors appointed by Victorian Local Government Minister Nick Staikos were put in place at Hobsons Bay in June last year. While the terms of reference for the monitors are vague and cite a need to improve governance, the appointments came after former chief executive Aaron van Egmond was suspended amid allegations of “unacceptable workplace behaviour”.

The Australian Services Union previously said it had received “complaints regarding the behaviour of certain managers” at Hobsons Bay that had raised mental health concerns.

Van Egmond subsequently resigned in April 2025, and Tanner was appointed two months later. A second monitor, Rebecca McKenzie, was appointed in January. Under the Local Government Act, councils must foot the costs associated with municipal monitors, which cover their daily fees and expenses.

The council defended the proposed media rules to The Age, saying that councillors were still “entitled to express their personal views”. However, the draft policy explicitly states that councillors may only provide comment to the media at the “discretion and approval of the mayor”.

Regarding the secrecy rules, the council argued that releasing information internal working documents could be “misleading to the public”, and that briefings should remain a “safe place” for frank discussion with staff. The policy explicitly states that any “information” shared in these private sessions – not just physical documents – cannot be released without the chief executive’s permission.