Legal costs.

Illawarra residents have every reason to be concerned at the legal costs being run up by councils in their name.

Shellharbour council decided to pursue independent councillors over a confidential information issue. This was obviously a vendetta by the Labor majority seeking to damage opponents. It quickly degenerated into farce and the outcome was a legal bill for ratepayers in the vicinity of a million dollars - and there may be more to come if the case goes to appeal. It was one of the reasons the council was dismissed and administrators appointed.

Now we learn that Wollongong council took legal action against a farmer for what it termed " illegal land clearing ". The farmer contended that what occurred was normal farm maintenance - and this was accepted by the court. Once again the ratepayers will be faced with legal costs running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The problem is that when councillors decide to seek legal action they face no personal responsibility for costs. It is therefore an opportunity to play politics and use the courts to pursue a political agenda. There is also the vexing question of personal attitudes to issues taking precedence over legalities.

The law absolves councillors from personal responsibility on the basis that they are acting for the public good. Otherwise there would be few people of substance seeking public office for fear of financial ruin, but we obviously need some sort of filter to stop dubious cases going to court.

The answer may be the appointment of a retired judge to review all proposed council legal action. Hopefully such a person would be above politics and would certainly have the legal experience to know whether a case had the prospect of success.

It would remove the decision to go to court action at the time of heated debate and provide a cooling off period in which facts would need to be collected for presentation to the umpire for decision.

The cost involved would certainly be justified if even a fraction of the court fees presently descending upon ratepayers shoulders could be prevented !