Letter to the Editor: Integrity Can’t Be Optional in the Council Chamber

In a letter to the editor, Anne Kruger of Rye questions whether the public can trust council decision-making if integrity inside the chamber is treated as optional, pointing to renewed concerns about governance and internal politics at Mornington Peninsula Shire Council.

Recent comments by a councillor in an interview with STPL News have only deepened my concerns about governance at this council.

The admission that a term-limits motion was not driven by reform but was instead used to target a fellow councillor goes to the heart of what many residents now find troubling.

When procedural tools are weaponised for internal politics, they corrode trust not just between councillors, but with the community they are meant to serve.

The renewed focus on an entrenched “bloc of six” and allegations of a toxic culture sit uncomfortably alongside the council’s earlier rejection of stricter donation rules.

Taken together, these episodes raise a fundamental question: if integrity is treated as optional within the chamber, how can the public have confidence in the decisions made on their behalf?

Anne Kruger, Rye