From Great Lakes Council’s October 21 meeting, the public will know which councillors voted for and against each planning decision.

It will be general manager Keith O’Leary’s job to record the votes, and he welcomed the increased scrutiny.

“It will be a good thing. It’s only really been arrived at in the wash-up of the Wollongong issue,” he said.

Wollongong City Council was dismissed after an ICAC inquiry found staff had treated certain local developers favourably. A week earlier, the State Government sacked Port Macquarie-Hastings Council over a multi-million dollar blowout on its Glasshouse cultural centre.

Mr O’Leary said the new recording system is a welcome safeguard against corruption.

“It’s part of being accountable and open. We’ll be able to look back and know exactly which way a councillor voted on an issue,” he said.

“But there are 152 councillors in the state, and the vast majority do the right thing.”

As the system stands, only councillors who introduce and ‘second’ a motion are recorded. Councillors can make a special request that their name be recorded for or against a decision, and a two-councillor alliance can call for a Division, where every name on either side of a proposal is recorded.

The new system will only apply to planning decisions like rezoning and development applications, but Mr O’Leary did not think the extra transparency will change the way Great Lakes councillors vote.

“It’s an accountability measure, but that’s the way the councillors treat their role now. If a decision comes up where they think they could have a conflict of interest, they declare it and leave the room.”

Former councillor Lynette Lawry was hit with a 12-month ban from public office last December when she failed to declare property near Bulahdelah. The land was being rezoned, and the Local Government Pecuniary Tribunal found a conflict of interest.

Apart from recording votes, the new legislation requires general managers to record councillors’ election campaign donations, and refer any suspected conflict of interest to the Director General.