The Huon Valley Council has adopted a Code of Conduct relating to the conduct of Councillors in accordance with the Local Government Act 1993 (the Act).
The Code of Conduct is approved by the Minister for Local and is consistent with the Act and addresses prescribed matters. The Code is set out in the Local Government (Code of Conduct) Order 2024.
The Code of Conduct provides for the following matters:
- Decision Making
- Conflicts of Interest that are not pecuniary
- Use of Office
- Use of Council resources
- Use of Information
- Gifts and Benefits
- Relationships with the community, other Councillors and Council employees
- Representation as a Councillor, of the Council into the community
Code of conduct complaints
Lodging a code of conduct complaint should be seen as a last resort where a complainant has sought to resolve an issue directly with the subject of the complaint or through the relevant council’s dispute resolution process and is unsatisfied with the outcome.
From 10 September 2025 all Tasmanian councils must implement a dispute resolution policy which outlines the process for managing disputes at the council level. Any person can make a complaint under a relevant council’s internal dispute resolution policy.
Councils are required to make a copy of their dispute resolution policy available on their website and for public inspection free of charge at the public office and for purchase at a reasonable charge. This must also contain information on how to make a complaint to the council under their dispute resolution policy.
Prescribed content for the development of council’s dispute resolution policies is contained in the Local government (General) Regulations 2015 and is also available on the Tasmanian legislation website at www.legislation.tas.gov.au.
The Huon Valley Council expects to adopt the internal dispute resolution policy by the end of 2024.
How to make a code of conduct complaint
Once a complainant has gone through the Council’s internal dispute resolution process and being dissatisfied with the outcome and having acted in good faith, the complainant may make a complaint under the Code of Conduct.
The complainant must demonstrate in their complaint form that they:
- have made reasonable efforts under the council’s internal dispute resolution process; or
- have made efforts to resolve the complaint; or
- can explain why the internal dispute resolution process is not an appropriate process for resolving the issue.
A complainant must complete a Local government code of conduct complaint form and lodge it with the Chief Executive Officer within six months of the alleged contravention.
A link to the form is included below.
Code of Conduct complaints are to be lodged with the Chief Executive Officer, Huon Valley Council, PO Box 210, Huonville, 7109 or at the Council’s Customer Service Centre.
The complaint must be accompanied by:
- a statutory declaration verifying the accuracy of the information contained in the complaint. This should meet the Requirements for completing a Statutory Declaration, August 2022 (PDF 105.3KB)
- the prescribed fee. For 2024-25, this is $93.50.
Further information about how to make a complaint, information and other requirements is contained in the Information Sheet – Local Government Code of Conduct – Information for Complainants, September 2024 (PDF 303.3KB).
Referral of complaint by Chief Executive Officer
The Chief Executive Officer or their delegate in the Office of General Counsel is required to assess a code of conduct complaint within 14 days after receiving it to ensure that it meets the requirements of section 28V of the Act.
Where the complaint meets these requirements, the Chief Executive Officer or their delegate must:
- if the complaint is against less than half of all the councillors of the council, refer it to the Code of Conduct Panel Executive Officer
- if the complaint is against one half or more of all the councillors of the council, refer it to the Director of Local Government
Confidentiality
Complaints should be treated as confidential. The parties to a complaint should keep the complaint and all information provided to, and by, the investigating Panel during the assessment and investigation of the complaint (for example, supporting information provided by the complainant and any response to the complaint provided by the councillor against whom the complaint is made), confidential and out of the public domain. This applies from the time of lodgement of the complaint until:
- the complaint is withdrawn by the complainant;
- the complaint is dismissed by the initial assessor on initial assessment; or
- the investigating Panel’s determination report is made public by being included within an agenda item at the first open council meeting at which it is practicable to do so.
Under the Local Government Act 1993, a person must not make improper use of information acquired by the person in relation to a code of conduct investigation.
The Chief Executive Officer and their delegate adopts these principles and treats any complaint received as confidential.
Once a complaint has been forwarded to the Code of Conduct Panel Executive Officer the Chief Executive Officer or their delegate does not have any role in advising Councillors when a complaint is lodged and will not do so.
The following documents are included for your reference: