Hard taskmaster: Councillor Dan Hayes grades compliance policy 'below expectations'

A Wollongong councillor has slammed the presentation and content of a policy document and asked staff to redo their homework.

An update to Wollongong City Council’s compliance and enforcement policy was put before the council meeting on Monday (17 March) and at first looked set to be given the go-ahead.

New Ward 3 Councillor Deirdre Stuart asked for clarification about how the council’s risk management framework was developed, and said she had concerns about a lack of external input.

She was also dissatisfied with the detail on safety for staff.

Ward 1 Councillor Dan Hayes, however, was dissatisfied with most of the document.

A councillor for Wagga Wagga from 2016-2023, before being elected in Wollongong in 2024, Cr Hayes said the policy update did not meet his expectations.

“They say to compliment in public and criticise in private; unfortunately, this job does not always allow that,” he said.

“I cannot support this as it is; there are too many gaps and errors in this policy.

“It is well below the expectation I would have.

“On page three it talks about proactive compliance; it would be nice to see some examples of proactive strategies we have used and how we have measured their success.

“Why don’t we include reporting on the number of complaints and enforcement in the report?

“The lack of reporting from a key area of council is concerning. I want that information so we can use it to be more effective.

“The risk matrix shows four levels of risk but on p3 it only refers to three levels. 6.2 talks about anonymous reporting and indicates only extreme risk anonymous reports are investigated.

“The colours on the arrows seem to match up with the colours on some boxes but do not.

“It also looks like the colour red is used differently.

“This might seem pedantic but how it reads to the community and to us is important.

“I recognise this is a difficult policy to write … [but] until all those issues are rectified I can’t support this.”

Veteran Ward 3 Councillor Linda Campbell made an attempt to defend the policy in its current state.

She argued that the areas highlighted by Cr Hayes could be improved, but she believed the document gave staff adequate guidance.

“There’s some beauty and some common sense in having some flexibility,” she said.

“I’m not saying the points Cr Hayes made don’t have merit, they do.

“It’s important that your colours match.

“But I think this is a good commonsense document that provides our expert staff with the guidance to do their role and that’s our job.”

Cr Hayes hit back and said it wasn’t just about the colour coordination.

He urged the council to defer the policy and asked staff if they needed further guidance from him on how to amend it.

Through the general manager council staff indicated they did not require further guidance from Cr Hayes.

The amended motion, to defer acceptance of the policy, was carried unanimously, with Cr Campbell capitulating “in the interests of collaborative decision-making”.