Melton council has agreed to lower the budget for any future International Women’s Day events but still refused to cap how much they could spend on a guest speaker.
The council stirred controversy earlier this year when it splashed out nearly $17,000 of ratepayers money – which had not been budgeted for – on the extravagant invitation-only high tea, prompting questions about transparency.
The cost of the tea only came to public attention at the March meeting – a few days before the event – when Watts ward councillor Lara Carli questioned the mayor and officers about the event’s purpose, price and guest list.
The council decided in April to restrict the budget for future high-tea events to $10,000.
However, Cr Carli raised concerns at last Monday’s council meeting that there had been no explicit restriction placed on the amount that could be spent on a guest speaker.
“The decision was to allocate $10,000 with an additional allocation for a guest speaker,” she said. “Myself and a few of my fellow councillors voted against it because there wasn’t a cap and we didn’t feel that it was the right thing for this council to do.
“We could have a guest speaker that could cost $25,000 or $30,000 or even $40,000 – who knows? At the moment it’s open, which doesn’t sit comfortably with me.
“I would like to hear from our audit committee to see if it’s council’s best practice to make decisions and leave it open like that.”
Cr Carli’s motion to refer the matter to the audit committee – of which she is a member – was rejected by the council.
Cr Ramsey said she was surprised that the high tea was still “a bone of contention”.
“Yes, 107 wonderful women and 29 students were brought to a high tea,” she said.
“I’m sick and tired of councillors wanting a scapegoat … so they’ll use the high tea. The high tea was a great initiative; it worked well.”
