Mitchell Shire Council wants the current Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) structure changed – hopefully to ensure Council wins more appeals.
A motion presented to the March meeting of Council by Cr Nathan Clark suggested that when a council decision results from a unanimous decision of councillors, VCAT should convene a panel of three VCAT members to review the matter.
Cr Clark claimed that the panel approach would ensure – a more comprehensive and balanced assessment of each case. His report suggested that the use of a panel would allow for diverse perspectives, expertise, and thorough consideration of all relevant factors and that the use of a panel would eliminate the problem of introducing a single point of failure.
“Several unanimous decisions to refuse a permit by the council have been overruled by a single VCAT member. A single VCAT member presents a single point of failure in the decision-making process,” Cr Clark said.
He added that the current practice of generally relying on a single VCAT member to adjudicate cases, may not always lead to the most robust and well-informed outcomes.
“VCAT is the bane of our life. We have decisions made by someone sitting at a deck somewhere. VCAT has lost its way,” Cr Eldridge said.
“If it is a unanimous decision of Council me need more than one VCAT member ruling on it,” Cr Chisholm added.
Comment on the matter provided by Council officers suggested that the merits of decisions made by Council to refuse a permit, should be robust enough to withstand challenges and should not thrust Mitchell Shire Council into any situation that might portray that Councillors have influenced a decision.
As a result of the unanimous vote by Councillors on the motion a letter will be sent to the Minister for Planning and the President of VCAT advocating for reform of the VCAT decision making process, suggesting that VCAT should convene a panel of three members if a Council decision on a matter was unanimous.
Mitchell Shire Council currently has nine appeals before VCAT.
