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Aboriginal Interpreter Service Rescripting of Code of Conduct

Arranged by NT Department of Housing and Community Development
for Central Desert Regional Council and MacDonnell Regional Council
January 2018

Code of conduct

• Every council must have a code of conduct.
• The code of conduct has rules which people must follow if they are members of a council, or members of a local authority, or members of a local board or members of council committees.

Honesty and integrity

• One rule is about ‘honesty and integrity’—a member must always be honest and do their work properly for the council, not cheating or lying.

Care and diligence

• Another rule is called ‘care and diligence’—a member must always work carefully for the council, not being slack.

Courtesy

• Another rule is called ‘courtesy’—a member must always act politely towards other members, council workers, electors and everyone else in the community.

Conduct towards council staff

• The next rule is called ‘conduct towards council staff’—a member must not tell council workers what to do or growl at them or get in the way when their boss tells them what to do.

Respect for cultural diversity

• The next rule is called ‘respect for cultural diversity’—a member must always respect people from / belonging to other cultures.
• A member must not treat anyone unfairly because they are different.
• A member must not tell other people how / what to think, if they are from / belong to another culture.

Conflict of interest

• Another rule is called ‘conflict of interest’
• When they are doing council business, a member must not be trying to get something good just for themselves.
• If a member does have a conflict of interest, the law says that the member must tell the other council members about this.

Respect for confidences

• Another rule is called ‘respect for confidences’—when a member is at a council meeting, he/she might hear something secret / a secret story that is just for council members to hear.
• That member must not use what they learned in the secret story to get something good just for himself or to hurt someone else.

Gifts

• Another rule is called ‘gifts’—if a person is trying to get something from the council, such as a business contract, a member should not ask that person to give him/her any gifts or anything else good, such as money.

Accountability

• Another rule is called ‘accountability’—a member must always be ready to tell the council about the work that he/she has been doing for the council.
• He/she must always be ready to tell the council how he/she has used things belonging to the council.

Interests of municipality, region or shire to be paramount

• Another rule is called ‘interests of council to be paramount’—a member must always work hard to do good things for everyone who lives in the community, region or shire.
• A member should always be honest and always learning and thinking about all of the things that will help everyone who lives in the community, region or shire.

If someone thinks that a code of conduct rule has been broken they can speak up and make a complaint.

To learn more about this you can call 08 8924 3644.