People hoping to be elected as councillors in Queensland could be limited to a campaign war chest of up to $20,000, under reforms proposed by the state government.
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The suggested changes, detailed in a document released on Tuesday night, included compulsory preferential voting, mandatory training for all candidates, proportional representation in undivided councils, and campaign spending caps.
Non-mayoral council candidates would have spending caps of $10,000 for divisions with fewer than 20,000 electors, a sliding cap of 50¢ per elector in divisions of 20,000 electors or more, and $20,000 for 40,000 electors or more, with caps in place for four-year terms.
Mayoral candidates with 200,000 electors or more would have a cap of $100,000.
There would be public campaign funding introduced for council elections, with candidates, groups of candidates and political parties who received more than 4 per cent of first preference votes to be entitled to $1.57 per first preference vote, up to the amount of the electoral expenditure.
Under the proposed changes, candidates would be required to disclose as part of their nomination any membership of political parties in the past 12 months, if they were involved in contracts with the council and if they, or any close associate, had any development applications before the council.
In addition, councils would be required to consult with the community on their budgets and there would be stronger requirements on the use of council-controlled entities.
Councils would be limited in the decisions they could make during caretaker periods on significant procurement activities, making local laws and varying existing development approvals.
Brisbane City Council would also lose its right to information exemption for its establishment and co-ordination committee, commonly referred to as civic cabinet.
The Office of the Independent Assessor would investigate complaints about the conduct of Brisbane councillors, changing the current system where the council has its own councillor complaints system.
The recommendations' release came hours after Brisbane City Council’s LNP councillors ramped up their attack on the state government’s proposed local government reforms.
Deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner moved an urgency motion in Tuesday’s council chambers condemning Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe’s "false claims" about the proposed changes.
Some changes were announced last week and included election reform to make compulsory preferential voting a requirement in local government elections.
The LNP claimed the proposed voting method changes would unfairly boost Labor’s chances in the upcoming state election by pushing preferences their way.
Labor has five councillors in Brisbane City Council out of a total of 26.
Council opposition leader Peter Cumming said Labor supported the change as a "common sense" move that would mean council elections would use the same voting system as state and federal elections.
"What these proposed changes will ensure is consistency across all levels of government," Cr Cumming said.
"If these changes are made there will be a uniform, consistent system across the board and that will be a great thing."
Mr Hinchliffe said all the proposed reforms were "informed by the Belcarra report" and the government would "consult widely with stakeholders before committing to any specific reform measures".
"We want to create a more open and transparent system of local government in Queensland and that's why we're consulting with stakeholders," he said.
"We want mayors, councillors and other stakeholders to have their say on reform and how best to achieve it."
Cr Schrinner said the LNP rejected Mr Hinchliffe’s statements that the changes stemmed from the Crime and Corruption Commission’s Belcarra report into local government corruption.
The deputy mayor also called on Mr Hinchliffe to outline "a detailed forward timetable for consultation on the proposed changes including with the community" and full details on the proposed changes.
Lord mayor Graham Quirk said the information provided by the minister had been a "drip feed".
"This is something that local government throughout Queensland is not going to take lying down," Cr Quirk said.
Cr Schrinner said there was no recommendation in the Belcarra report to change voting systems for local government.
It followed an earlier motion by Labor councillor Jared Cassidy that the council implement a ban on "non-essential advertising" six months out from the 2020 council election, in line with the state government’s advertising code of conduct.
Independent councillor Nicole Johnston also raised the issue of advertising spend, noting the Belcarra report raised spending caps as a priority.
The motion was shot down by LNP councillors.
