Posted on October 16, 2025 by Megan Hawley
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Land & Environment Court to deal with Councillor Conduct
A bill was introduced into the NSW Legislative Council on 14 October 2025 to change the forum for dealing with councillor conduct matters. The Land & Environment Court is proposed to have new powers to hear councillor conduct matters, in lieu of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).
The bill can be found here. Set out below are some of its key features.
Public Interest Proceedings
The Local Government and Other Legislation (Councillor Conduct) Bill 2025 (Bill) provides for the bringing of ‘public interest proceedings‘ in the Land & Environment Court against a councillor or former councillor in respect of a breach of a law, or a breach of the Council’s Code of Conduct..
The proceedings can be commenced by the Minister administering the Local Government Act 1993 (Minister), the Departmental Chief Executive, ICAC, the Secretary of another government department or any other person granted leave by the Court. This could be any person, but the Court must consider the public interest before granting such leave, including whether the proceedings would be an abuse of process, and the prospects of success of the proceedings.
The inclusion of the requirement for the Court to consider whether the proceedings are an abuse of process or have reasonable prospects of success before allowing a private person to commence proceedings is presumably intended to prevent proceedings being commenced vexatiously, potentially be a councillor’s political rivals or to achieve political outcomes.
If the Court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities, that the councillor has breached a law or the council’s Code of Conduct, the Court has a range of disciplinary actions it can take, provided those actions are in the public interest. The actions include including disqualification for up to 5 years, payment of compensation or damages to any person, or a civil penalty of up to $49,940.
There are a range of provisions regarding the interaction of public interest proceedings and evidence given in such proceedings with other proceedings including criminal proceedings.
Temporary Suspension Powers Expanded
The Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act) currently provides for sanctions for ‘serious corrupt conduct’ in Division 2 of Part 1 of Chapter 14.
‘Serious corrupt conduct’ is currently defined as:
‘corrupt conduct (within the meaning of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988) that may constitute a serious indictable offence, being—
(a) in the case of conduct of the holder of a civic office—conduct in connection with the exercise or purported exercise of the functions of the civic office, or
(b) in the case of conduct of a member of staff of a council—conduct in connection with exercise or purported exercise of the duties of the member of staff.’
The majority of references to serious corrupt conduct in Division 2 of Part 1 of Chapter 14 are proposed to be replaced with references to ‘serious indictable offences’ or ‘conduct that constitutes serious indictable offences‘. ‘Serious indictable offence’ is proposed to be defined to include serious corrupt conduct, an indictable offence punishable by imprisonment for 5 years or more, or any offence under Part 3, Division 10 of the Crimes Act, which covers sexual offences.
This expands the circumstances in which persons holding civic office can be temporarily suspended by the Minister or staff members can be temporarily suspended by the General Manager of the relevant council to include any serious indictable offence (as defined), rather than only those comprising serious corrupt conduct.
Pecuniary Interests and Misconduct Matters
It is proposed to amend the LG Act to permit the Departmental Chief Executive to also bring proceedings in the Land & Environment Court (rather than NCAT) in relation to allegations of contraventions of ‘pecuniary interests duties’ and in relation to allegations of misconduct.
The Court may determine such proceedings without a hearing and on the papers if agreed by the parties, there are no material facts in dispute and the Court considers its in the public interest to do so. This is similar to the power NCAT previous had in respect of such matters.
Compliance with Performance Improvement Orders
The Bill also proposes to amend the LG Act in respect of enforcement of performance improvement orders against councillors (PIOs).
Currently the Minister must give written notice to a councillor inviting submissions, and consider those submissions before issuing an order on the councillor to comply with a PIO.
The proposed amendments are to the effect that the Minister may give a show cause notice if the Minister intends to issue a compliance order (subject to the councillor’s submissions in response). However, as an alternative, the Minister can request the Departmental Chief Executive to commence proceedings in the Court for misconduct, without giving any prior notice.
New Class of Proceedings in LEC
Proceedings under the LG Act as proposed to be amended by the Bill will be heard in a new class – Class 9 – in the Land & Environment Court.
we will keep track of the progress of the Bill and post further updates.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of this post, please do not hesitate to contact Megan Hawley on 8235 9703
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