Shadow Minister for Local Government, Ian Sloan, has criticised the disastrous handling of
changes to the Local Government Act which means there will be no rules around disclosures
for the upcoming Territory-wide council elections.
“This is a complete schmozzle. The Minister for Local Government, Chansey Paech, has
brought last minute amendments, to previous amendments, to 2019 amendments – which
are not yet in force. Amendments on amendments on amendments.
“It’s beyond belief. Minister Paech has completely bungled his first piece of legislation and
these changes mean there will be NO campaign disclosure requirements for the upcoming
2021 elections.
“There are, in fact, current laws for disclosures – the government just hasn’t bothered to
bring them into force.
“Despite these changes being flagged a month ago, Minister Paech didn’t present the four
pages of amendments to the Opposition and independents for consideration until 9am this
morning – just hours before it was supposed to be debated. Was this motivated by politics
or was it incompetence?
“Territorians deserve better than a minister on training wheels,” said Mr Sloan