Dick Prendergast (right), pictured with Moyne Shire mayor Jim Doukas, has denied going to VCAT for a return to council.
CONTROVERSIAL former Moyne Shire councillor Dick Prendergast has denied he had a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal hearing yesterday in an effort to return to council.
The VCAT website listing a hearing as “Richard Prendergast v Moyne SC”, but Mr Prendergast flatly denied that it was related to his ban from council or that he was the person in question.
Mr Prendergast was disqualified from being a councillor after he was convicted of assaulting a Moyne Shire employee in a 2005 incident. The seven-year disqualification will lapse in time for the 2016 municipal elections, but not this year’s.
A disqualified person may apply to VCAT to lift the ban after four years, according to the local government act.
VCAT was unable yesterday to supply The Standard with the determination or details of the hearing. But Moyne Shire councillor James Purcell said he had “no doubt” the hearing was between the former councillor and the shire.
The council moved a motion at this month's meeting that they would not be the respondent in the September 19 VCAT hearing related to Richard Prendergast and that no councillors or staff would attend the meeting in an official capacity.
The agenda from that meeting confirms that the Richard Prendergast in question was a disqualified former councillor.