Councillor suspended

By Paul Dunlop
CARDINIA Shire councillor Bill Ronald was suspended from council’s meeting on Monday night.
The Pakenham Ward representative, recently charged with assaulting council chief executive officer Don Welsh, became the first councillor to be evicted from a meeting under new rules governing their behaviour.
An hour into proceedings at the August monthly meeting, Cr Ronald was suspended for the duration of the twohour session.
He was asked to leave the chamber after mayor Garry Runge ruled he had impeded the orderly conduct of council’s meeting.
Cr Ronald was later invited back to participate in question time but had gone home.
When he left the chambers, Cr Ronald loudly proclaimed that local government was ‘dead’. It was a claim he repeated to the Gazette yesterday.
“It’s the end of democracy,” Cr Ronald said.
“It’s a sad day for council and the shire when the mayor has to suspend the longest serving councillor not for untoward behaviour but for debate on an issue before the chair.”
But Cr Ronald’s claim that the mayor had overreacted was rejected by Cr Runge who said the Pakenham Ward representative’s conduct had justified the decision.
“His behaviour was appalling,” the mayor said.
“I don’t mind a bit of banter in council and I certainly don’t mind vigorous debate but if a councillor disrupts the business of council then I can’t ignore that.
“As mayor and leader of the council, I cannot allow that sort of behaviour to continue.”
Cr Ronald’s suspension came as he sought to question shire officers over a new policy relating to gaming machines.
Cr Ronald had continued to pursue the issue after his questions were ruled irrelevant and after his motion deferring the adoption of the policy lapsed for want of a seconder.
Cr Ronald said it was a disgrace that councillors had not seen fit to debate the gaming policy, deciding instead to agree with the officer’s recommendation that it be approved.
“This is a debate that has to be had,” he said.
Councillors Doug Hamilton and Helen Ward both said Cr Ronald’s efforts were out of order.
When Cr Ronald suggested during the meeting that Cr Runge was overruling him ‘just because he had recently been overlooked for Liberal Party preselection’, the mayor asked him to withdraw his comments on the basis that they were irreverent.
Cr Runge warned Cr Ronald that if he continued to behave in such a manner he would be removed from the chamber.
Cr Runge said Cr Ronald had been given the chance to provide an alternative motion to the recommendation but had not had support from his colleagues. The suspension is another saga in what has been a tumultuous year for Cr Ronald whose unorthodox style of representation has won him a loyal following among some ratepayers but regularly lands him in hot water with colleagues.
The assault charge hearing against Cr Ronald was adjourned yesterday (Tuesday 16 August) at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court until Wednesday 31 August.
Cr Ronald told the Gazette that all he wanted was a ‘fair go’.
Cr Runge said it was appropriate that there be boundaries on acceptable council behaviour and that Cr Ronald had, on Monday night at least, crossed the line.