Panel eyes sin bin

By Bridget Cook
CASEY councillor Kevin Bradford could face a two-month suspension over alleged misconduct during his time on the council.
At a council meeting in April, councillors resolved to refer 18 alleged matters regarding the conduct of Cr Bradford to a Councillor Conduct Panel.
The Municipal Association of Victoria formed a two-person panel, with five days of panel hearings held last month.
City of Casey mayor Sam Aziz, who is the council’s representative on the panel, said the hearings ran for five days.
Some of the allegations included bullying and leaking of confidential and sensitive council information.
Cr Aziz said the panel would be able to sanction a finding for 17 of the alleged counts of misconduct.
“If they make a finding of misconduct, they can issue a penalty of misconduct,” he said.
“That can include suspension for two months.”
Cr Aziz said a majority of the council believed there was enough evidence of misconduct to sanction such a punishment.
And they believed one of the alleged incidents was classed as gross misconduct.
This incident involved the proven findings regarding misuse of position by Cr Bradford as outlined in the Ombudsman’s report to the Victorian Parliament in 2010 and his breach of confidentiality and leaking of confidential and sensitive council information.
“Under the Act, gross misconduct constitutes that it is extremely harmful to the community,” Cr Aziz said.
“So what happens?
“If the panel finds there’s enough grounds for a finding of gross misconduct then they have to refer the matter to VCAT.
“We believe there’s enough to class it as gross misconduct.”
Cr Aziz said he produced 25 witness statements, with 11 of those witnesses making an appearance to the panel, including current staff, current and former Casey councillors, journalists and heads of community organisations.
Cr Bradford produced four witnesses – two current and two former councillors.
Both parties will now provide final written submissions to the panel, with a determination set to be reached in about four weeks.
Cr Bradford said he was unable to make any comments on the issue at this time, as directed by the panel chair.
He said this directive applied to both applicant’s representative and himself.