The sacking of the nothern Melbourne Council of Darebin by the State Government was an act of treachery against democracy. The Councillors were all members of the Australian Labor Party, elected by the residents of Darebin to represent them. They have now been replaced by a single Commissioner appointed by the Liberal State Government. So much for the stated wishes of the people in Darebin.

A campaign to have the elected Council immediately re-instated has received overwhelming support in Darebin. Over 250 people attended a meeting early in August to express their anger and plan a campaign.

The reasons given for the dismissal of the Council were that it was parallised by factionalism. The fact is, there were great problems in the Council and these need to be addressed, however sacking the Council is inexusable.

The electorate of Batman, which is roughly the same area as the Council of Darebin is known to have some of the worst ALP branch stacking in the country. The memory of Martin Fergusons installation as Federal Member is still raw in Batman. The practise of standing the best person for the job seems to be long forgotten and instead ALP candidates are nominated by factions as favours returned. In Darebin this led to decisions made by Council, not according to what was best for the electorate, but what was best for the Councillors. A prime example is the scrapping of a fully prepared and printed newsletter being pulped because one Councillor believed an article about road repairs in one section of the Council would anger residents in his ward.

A decision over whether to use the Northcote Town Hall as a Centre for the arts has been used as a political football. First it was, then it wasn't. The community made it clear that it supported the project, but with indecent haste the Council decided to halt the process by pulling down an extension on the Town Hall in indecent haste.

Whilst the Council was clearly not acting in the best interests of the local residents, it was always for the local residents to take action, not the State Government. And the hypocrosy of the State Government is glaring. David Elsum was commissioned to conduct an inquiry into the operations of the Council after disputes between the Council and the Darebin Chief Executive Officer. The ensuing Elsum Report claimed that the Council was corrupt and parallised by factionalism and on the basis of this report they were sacked.

Part of the Report's evidence was that the Darebin Mayor, Nazih-El Asmar, had excessively increased his salary to $88,000 a year. It has recently come to light that David Elsum, was being paid $2,200 a day or $300 an hour for part of a day plus travelling and other expenses. This amount pales the Mayor's excessive salary. The exact figures received by Elsum have not been revealed but are estimated to be in the vicinity of $310,200 for less than six months work.

It's no wonder that many Australians are cynical about politicians and believe that power corrupts. But there are policies that can be put in place to ensure it doesn't happen.

Firstly elected representatives should not be attracted by elevated salaries, but by the desire to represent the interests of their communities. Their wages should be tied to average earnings plus realistic expenses.

Secondly they should be made accountable at all times and not just at election times. To do this we should implement the 'right of recall', which allows any elected official to be recalled, if a proportion of the electrate are convinced election programs are not being implemented. As well as that, the broadest community involvement, consultation and committee participation, should be encouraged to keep elected representatives close to the needs of the communities they represent.