The Education (polytechnics) Amendment Bill 2009 has been drafted to improve the governance and effectiveness of polytechnic councils and while Mayor Juno Hayes said he supported that ideal, he was concerned there was a pushfor more government appointments on councils like the one that administers Telford.
Of particular concern to Mr Hayes is a change that could see ministerial appointments have "majority power" on the Telford council with the proportion of local representation dropped to accommodate the Government-backed councillors.
"The proposed reduction will take away the local knowledge and skills required for good governance within an institution that is largely representative of our rural-based district."
The council also struggled to see how reducing local representation helped benefit Telford's governance.
Mr Hayes said the council was "completely opposed" to the Government appointing the council chair and deputy chair, which he said took away the democratic rights of councils to choose their own leaders.
"This proposal also takes away the trust and unity that councils should have and need," Mr Hayes said.
