Woollahra to send councillor conduct submission with Part M removed

Woollahra Council will submit its response on proposed NSW councillor conduct reforms with Part M removed, after councillors voted 13-0 to approve the amended submission. The response must be lodged with the Office of Local Government by 7 August 2026.

Resolution 468/2026 endorses the consultation draft Model Code of Conduct for Councillors and related conduct reforms, subject to deleting Part M. It gives the General Manager authority to finalise and lodge the submission by the closing date.

The amendment was moved by Councillor Hugh Woodgate and seconded by Councillor Mary-Lou Jarvis. The available decision does not specify what Part M contains or why councillors required its removal.

The submission places Woollahra’s position into a NSW consultation on councillor conduct requirements and accountability processes. The vote did not adopt the proposed reforms as local rules.

Councillors also endorsed, in principle, a separate response to a NSW Electoral Commission survey on the cost of local-government elections. The General Manager was authorised to finalise and lodge that response as well.

That response notes NSW councillor election expenditure runs to about $120 million, or almost $100,000 per councillor. It also recommends that the State Government refrain from removing locally elected officials from decisions such as development approvals and the preparation of local strategic plans.

The conduct submission is separate from the election-cost response. Its immediate effect is to give the Office of Local Government Woollahra’s amended position before the 7 August deadline, with Part M excluded from the document.

The reforms remain the subject of the state consultation. Woollahra’s submission will be finalised by council staff under the authority granted to the General Manager and lodged with the Office of Local Government by the deadline.