Eurobodalla residents let down by the Mayor, his faction of Councillors, and Council processes
At the Council meeting on 28 April 2026, in addition to specific local matters, Councillors discussed governance, decision-making, public transparency and risks to our local government democracy.
The discussion, brought on by concerned Questions on Notice from Councillor Anthony Mayne, broadly divided Councillors along two lines, those backing community input and better decision-making and those that were silent. Silence on better governance and transparency is a usually vote for no change, or a sign of no interest in the issue. In the pro-community, pro-governance and pro-transparency camp, Councillor Anthony Mayne and Deputy Mayor, Colleen Turner, spoke of valuing the community’s input, particularly in public submissions and public presentations at Public Access and Public Forum. Councillor Sharon Winslade highlighted the unworkable existing governance arrangements and supported the importance of transparency and credibility in public decision-making.
Councillor Mick Johnson lamented the quality of agenda papers and lack of value-add being produced by Council staff to inform decision-making. Councillor Schutz spoke of the importance of submissions though did not offer any suggestion on how the submissions could be made more beneficial for Councillors to consider their contents. At the meeting, the Mayor, Mathew Hatcher, and Councillors Phil Constable and Laurence Babington had nothing to add on behalf of the public interest. This was a missed opportunity.
The Mayor is on record for trashing public submissions to the Batemans Bay Masterplan, calling submitters, “a bunch of naysayers”.
At Public Forum, prior to the Council meeting on 28 April 2026, the Mayor shut down two speakers on public access to Umeboro (Coopers Island), treating them unfairly and without respect because he was in a hurry to close Public Forum. Had the speakers been treated like the other speakers before them, Public Forum would have been extended by around 10 minutes.
The Eurobodalla community needs a Mayor and Councillors who value and listen to them and a Mayor that treats all of his constituents fairly and does not play favourites and trashes the work and contributions of his community and those that provide a different public perspective to his own, serves the Eurobodalla community poorly.
In another way, the Council meeting on 28 April 2026 was memorable for being unworkable. The agenda papers, running 1,483 pages in length, possibly a Eurobodalla record, were distributed by Council staff only two business days before the meeting. Notable, the Mayor stated there were 300-400 pages only. This process gave Councillors very little opportunity to read and consider the material, and make informed decisions on behalf of the community.
It gave the community little opportunity to consider and advocate their views and knowledge to Councillors at Public Forum. This is very poor governance and puts the community and their elected Councillors in an unworkable position. Despite this, Councillors should be congratulated for doing their best in the circumstances. Council staff should also be acknowledged for doing their best to progress the work of the community.
However, we need to make things better.
Solutions to these challenges are straightforward. NSW Government legislation permits Councils to publish their agenda papers well before Council meetings. This could be seven days, 14 days or even a month before meetings. Failure to do this would appear to be an administrative preference of Council’s Executive Leadership Team.
In the era of hundreds and thousands of pages of agenda papers, this is unhelpful and untenable. They need to ask themselves who does this behaviour serve. Councillors are more than a rubber stamp. The community deserves informed decision-making.
Another option would be to return to two Council meetings per month, as occurred in the past, with part of the monthly agenda considered in two meetings rather than one.
A further option is the ability of Council staff to hold public meetings, workshops or discussions to inform Councillors on matters on monthly agenda items of business. Why did this not occur in April 2026? All of the above or a mix of them would help.
Another democratic improvement would be to correctly record the business discussed in Council meetings. At present, as highlighted by Councillor Winslade, the minute record is minimal, little more than a record of motions and voting, with no details of the debate. A simple solution here is to put a Hansard-type record of Council meetings on the website. This is a simple, implementable and inexpensive reform, which adds value to the webcast of proceedings.
All of these solutions are legal, simple, inexpensive and implementable. They would improve Council staff’s performance and accountability. They would allow Councillors to make better-informed decisions for the community, and they would give the community a fairer go and the prospect of better outcomes.
The Eurobodalla community and its Councillors deserve improvement its democracy urgently. Council staff, it’s time to acknowledge the need and to step up.