Annual election of Mayor

ALL citizens who understand the principle of a free, open, and transparent democracy know that the right to ask reasonable public questions is a cornerstone of such democracy.

Bass Coast Ratepayers and Residents Association was formed in 2016 with the purpose of seeking to raise the standards of accountability, transparency, community engagement, and financial discipline at Bass Coast Shire Council. The provision of a public question time at council meetings goes to the heart of three of those goals. 

But regrettably, some of our elected Councillors do not agree that public question time is a cornerstone of democracy.

Cr Michael Whelan, the current Mayor of Bass Coast Shire, is certainly no fan of public question time at council. 

In March 2022 he took the unprecedented action of stopping public questions being presented to the Council meeting. And he later told ABC radio of his view that the need for public questions to be put at Council meetings is a fantasy.

Then, at the August 2022 council meeting, Cr David Rooks attempted to remove all reference to public question time from the governance rules. That would have eliminated the requirement to have public question time at council meetings. His motion was supported by then Deputy Mayor, Cr Leticia Laing.

These three councillors have made it clear that they do not consider public question time to be a cornerstone of democracy at the local government level.

With the annual Mayoral election upon them, BCRRA is calling for Councillors to not support the re-election of Cr Michael Whelan, nor the election of Cr Leticia Laing nor Cr David Rooks, to the position of Mayor.

BCRRA is calling for a different councillor to stand for the position of Mayor. A councillor who understands and honestly accepts that public question time is a cornerstone of democracy. And the association asks that all other councillors support such a candidate.

BCRRA encourages all community members who understand the importance of public question time, to briefly email all councillors requesting them to not support the election of Crs Whelan, Laing, nor Rooks, as Mayor.

Bass Coast Ratepayers and Residents Association