Hume council will appeal the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s (VCAT) decision to clear councillor Trevor Dance of serious misconduct.
Cr Dance applied to VCAT for a review of a Hume council-convened councillor conduct panel’s (CCP) decision to suspend him from council for three months after finding he had engaged in serious misconduct.
The CCP found Cr Dance had breached council’s internal arbitration process by failing to attend two arbitration hearings in June, 2021, in relation to his allegations of misconduct against Cr Jack Medcraft.
Cr Dance had cited his mental health for refusing to attend the hearings, but the CCP concluded Cr Dance “did not attend the hearings because he chose not to attend in circumstances where no medical evidence to support his non-attendance was provided by him”.
Cr Dance served two weeks of his suspension before VCAT granted him a stay.
On Thursday, December 8, VCAT president Justice Michelle Quigley found Cr Dance’s claims about his mental health should have been considered more seriously.
“On the material before me I do not accept the failure to comply was wilful and deliberate in the proper sense. It was not without any reasonable excuse, ” Justice Quigley said in her decision.
“He took active steps to participate in the hearings.
“Concern for his mental health and psychological safety is a factor which I give significant weight to in forming my opinion of the circumstances in issue here.”
In a statement issued late last month, council said it was disappointed with Justice Quigley’s decision and believed it had negative implications for the Councillor Conduct Framework in Victoria.
“As such, on Monday 19 December, council resolved to commence an appeal to the Court of Appeal and notify the minister for local government of the action being undertaken,” the statement read.
“Council is aware of the cost impacts of the decision to appeal, however there are wider governance matters of relevance to the local government sector that need to be clarified as a result of the VCAT decision.
“Given council is lodging an appeal, no further comments on this issue will be made.”
