In December 2025 I read in the Mercury website a story about the debate in Burnie Council regarding the Marinus Link project. The Mercury article says that “Mayor Teeny Brumby excused herself from the vote due to a conflict of interest stemming from her public support for the project”. To learn more about conflict of interest I sent questions on notice to council. Here are the questions with answers in red.
Q1: If a mayor expresses a public position (for or against) a proposed project, is
that by itself enough to constitute a conflict of interest?
Response: No, see comments below.
Q2: If any councillor expresses a public position, does the same apply?
Response: No, see comments below.
Q3: If any councillor publicly lobbies for or against a proposed project, is that byitself enough to constitute a conflict of interest?
Response: No, not by itself.
Part 2 of the Local Government (Code of Conduct) Order 2024, does impose
important limitations, including that there cannot be a personal or private interest
involved as well. An elected representative is expected to “openly and honestly in
the public interest” debate various matters, with the Mayor acting as the
spokesperson for the Council. In all their duties, Elected Members are to “give
genuine and impartial consideration to all relevant information known”.
However, in some circumstances an Elected Member will be making
administrative decisions, such as when they attend the Glenorchy Planning
Authority meetings. There they will have a duty to uphold the legislated planning
scheme, and are expected to approach the issue with an “open and
unprejudiced” mind.
I found a more detailed explanation in the March 2025 Open Council agenda in the response to a question from Michelle Austen. I’ve quoted it here in full.
“An elected member would be required to declare and manage a conflict of interest in any matter coming before them. There is not an automatic conflict of interest in every matter because a person was, for example, a real estate agent.
It is a matter of considering the circumstances surrounding each individual matter that comes forward to an elected member for decision.
The Local Government Act 1993 sets out in detail the requirements for elected members when it comes to conflict of interest.
In summary, the Act requires elected members to bring an open and unprejudiced mind to all matters being decided upon in the course of their duties, including when making planning decisions as part of the Council’s role as a Planning Authority. They must make decisions free from personal bias or prejudgement.
There are two kinds of conflict detailed in the Act – pecuniary (or “money-related”) interests and non-pecuniary interests.
Pecuniary interest
An elected member has a pecuniary interest in a matter if the elected member or a close associate would, if the matter were decided in a particular manner, receive, have an expectation of receiving or be likely to receive a pecuniary benefit or pecuniary detriment.
Close associate is defined in detail under the Act to include a range of business and family relationships.
If an elected member has a pecuniary interest in a particular matter, they are required to declare their interest, leave the room and not participate in the decision-making. There are penalties under the Act for not doing so.
Non-pecuniary interest
Non-pecuniary interests are non-money-related personal or private interests (whether actual, potential or perceived) that might unduly influence, or be seen to unduly influence, an elected member in their decision-making. These are addressed in the Elected Member Code of Conduct and the Act.
An elected member must act in good faith and exercise reasonable judgement to determine whether they have an actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest.
An elected member must avoid, and remove themselves from, positions of conflict of interest as far as reasonably possible.
An elected member who has a non-pecuniary interest, must:
(a) declare the conflict of interest and the nature of the interest before discussion of the matter begins; and
(b) act in good faith and exercise reasonable judgement to determine whether a reasonable person would consider that the conflict of interest requires the elected member to remove themselves physically from any Council discussion and remain out of the room until the matter is decided by the Council.
There are penalties under the Act for not complying with the Code of Conduct.”
Glenorchy City Observer 