A political commentator claims Logan’s councillors can remain “independent” despite both personal and public allegiances to political parties.
He said low candidate turnout at the last council elections could mean trouble if, or when, it comes time to elect Cr Jacob Heremaia’s successor.
Logan City council vows to be independent of political party influence, meaning councillors campaign and act on their own ticket.
But at least five of the 13 sitting councillors are members of a political party.
With Division 8’s Cr Heremaia becoming the LNP candidate for the state seat of Waterford, this October he might need to bid his constituent’s farewell.
Already the “conflict of interest” has prevented Cr Heremaia from voting in several council motions.
In a recent governance meeting, one councillor raised the question: who will be “looking out for his area” when he is on compulsory leave from council to campaign?
Cr Heremaia said he had sought legal advice to determine the best way to handle it.
Australian National University research fellow and Queensland state and local politics expert Dr Pandanus Petter said it was legally acceptable for Cr Heremaia to run for Queensland parliament as long as he fulfilled his council obligations.
He said this was as simple as attending council meetings.
However, Dr Petter said residents often expected more from their councillors, including political independence.
“Some people perceive that local government should be above party politics – it’s about making sure the bins are collected,” Dr Petter said.
He said while councils like Logan were viewed as purely administrative, others such as Brisbane were more ideological.
“Is there a reason a councillor would make different decisions than a truly independent councillor? It depends on what the council is doing,” Dr Petter said.
“If it’s running parks, then there’s not necessarily an ideological perspective.
“But in terms of the voter’s perspective, it helps them to know what kind of person they’re electing if it’s declared.”
While Cr Heremaia is now a declared member of the Liberal National Party, he wasn’t at the time of the election earlier this year, nor was he at the 2020 election, according to the Electoral Commission of Queensland.
According to his declared conflicts of interests as councillor, which were updated on 4 September, he is now an LNP member.
Dr Petter said Cr Heremaia would need to resign from council if elected to state parliament.
Typically, his council seat would be handed to the runner-up of the most recent election.
But considering Cr Heremaia was elected unchallenged in March, there will need to be a by-election.
“And if they’re short on candidates, it might be tricky to find someone to replace him,” Dr Petter said.
