Is it worth the risk ?

We implore our " best and brightest " to step up and seek a role in local government.  We need wise heads to make the hard decisions which will take our cities forward.   It is often an unrewarding job with plenty of criticism - and it can also send you to the poor house !

Take the case of Shellharbour council back in 2008.   This degenerated into an ugly brawl as politics divided into battle lines and councillors fought tooth and nail over every issue.    Somewhere along the way, Councillor Helen Stewart was accused of " leaking confidential information " - and unwisely the council decided to take the matter to court.

The legal battle descended into farce.   It was so obvious that the charges were more based on " politics and personalities " than evidence, and finally Councillor Stewart had one matter upheld and two matters dismissed.   The ridiculous waste of public money on this $ 1.2 million court case was the basis for the council being sacked by the state government - and an administrator appointed.

The sticking point is that Councillor Stewart - who was the only member of the old council re-elected at the election following the restoration of civil democracy in Shellharbour - is faced with a $ 100,000 legal bill.

Apparently, unlike Parliamentarians - who hide behind " Parliamentary privilege " when making statements in the house, there is no obligation for the council to pick up the tab for this bill.

This sort of incident must weigh heavily on the minds of those considering standing for council in all parts of Australia.   The risk is there that you could be dragged into some sort of court case if relations between councillors turn ugly - and when the dust settles you could find yourself facing a legal bill that will deliver you into poverty.

If we want our " best and brightest " to accept the challenge we need to set hard and fast rules on who pays the legal bills in these circumstances.    Otherwise, we risk our councils becoming the domain of " financially straw people " - because for people of substance the risk is just not acceptable !