Compensation for $500,000 of work to fix the mistake of the wrong glue being used when re-tiling Wodonga WAVES was kept a secret, former councillor Tim Quilty has told Victorian Parliament.
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The now Victorian MP was discussing the new Local Government Bill and used Wodonga as an example of a council keeping finances secret from the public.
He said the council sought costs from the WAVES builder after the incident in 2018.
"The council settled for some amount of compensation, but the amount they settled for was kept confidential," Mr Quilty said.
"Imagine that - Wodonga ratepayers had bought a product without knowing how much it cost them.
"The council's account should be a matter of public record."
He said he was concerned the same builder has since been awarded the contract to build the new Wodonga library.
Wodonga Council declined to respond to his comments from Parliament.
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The Liberal-Democrats moved an amendment to the bill being debated to remove the power of councils to close meetings to the public and discuss confidential items.
Mr Quilty said that one in 10 items being kept confidential was too many.
"Honest governments do not need to conceal financial information from ratepayers," he said.
Another of the amendments introduced by the Greens was to give 16 and 17-year-olds the option of voting in council elections, but this was not supported.
One of the most controversial aspects of the bill was to only allow councils to elect one representative from each ward in the municipality, with the exception of some rural areas where that is not practicable.
The Municipal Association of Victoria previously recommended this not be introduced as mandatory, but be kept as an option for councils that want the structure.
Minor party MPs told Parliament this week that the move would allow Labor and Liberal to keep more of its members on local councils to the detriment of others such as the Greens.
"When the Liberals and Labor get together on electoral reform, you know it's the voters who are getting screwed," Mr Quilty said.
The bill has support from the Labor and Liberal parties, but will be further considered on another day.
