Tonight’s Council Meeting was the first for 2025 and included some key items of interest:

Petitions and Joint Letters

A petition highlighting community safety concerns was formally received by Council. I supported Cr. Justin Halliday in strengthening Council’s advocacy by forwarding this petition to the State Government as part of the request for additional community safety resources.

CEO Report

I noted that the report indicated that Council had not been undertaking audits of its street maintenance activities during the final quarter of 2024 due to limited staff resourcing.

In response, Council assured me that these audits have resumed in 2025 to ensure our maintenance works meet community requirements.

Audit and Risk Committee

The Audit and Risk Committee (ARCo) is one of Council’s most important committees, with a remit to review Council performance and address risks jeopardising Council’s service delivery.

While the establishment of Audit and Risk Committees is a statutory requirement under the Local Government (2020), there is little legislative guidance as to the composition of the committee itself and its terms of a reference.

In reviewing the City of Port Phillip’s Audit and Risk Committee Charter I became concerned that it did not meet best practice in areas such as term limits.

As a result, I requested that Council:

Benchmark the City of Port Phillip’s Audit and Risk Committee Charter to ensure alignment with local government and corporate governance best practice and to report back to Council with recommendations by 31 August 2025.

I am pleased that this motion passed unanimously by all Councillors, as it will strengthen good governance in the City of Port Phillip, ensuring we align our Audit and Risk Committee with best practice.

Agenda and minutes of the Port Phillip Council meetings are available at Meetings and Agendas – City of Port Phillip