Hepburn Shire councillors reinstated after DPP drops private prosecution charges

Five councillors and a chief executive walked back into their offices this week after a legal intervention that stopped a rare private prosecution in its tracks. The Director of Public Prosecutions appeared in Ballarat Magistrate's Court and successfully moved to have all charges dismissed, ruling that insufficient evidence existed to proceed. It was a sudden reversal for Hepburn Shire, a regional Victorian council that had been effectively paralyzed for weeks by the legal action.

The charges had been filed by David Penman, a Hepburn businessman, against Mayor Tony Clark, councillors Don Henderson, Shirley Cornish, Pat Hockey, and Lesley Hewitt, along with former chief executive Bradley Thomas. They were accused of misuse of public office. Under the Local Government Act, the moment those charges were laid, all five councillors were forced to step down from their positions. The council ground toward dysfunction. State government officials called it an "unnecessary disruption" and announced plans to appoint an administrator to keep basic services running.

Penman's action exposed a peculiar vulnerability in Victorian law. The Local Government Act contains a provision that requires councillors to stand aside the moment they face certain charges, regardless of whether those charges have merit or will ever reach trial. Penman had used this mechanism—critics said weaponized it—to effectively shut down the council without needing to prove anything in court first. Rural Councils Victoria called it a loophole that threatened the stability of local governance across the state. The episode raised urgent questions about whether a single determined resident could paralyze an entire municipality simply by filing charges.

When the DPP took over the case this morning and moved to strike out the charges, Penman said he was surprised by the intervention. He noted that the prosecution office had not contacted him beforehand, and he suggested—carefully, without quite saying it—that political sensitivity may have played a role. Yet he accepted the outcome. "This is a democracy," he said outside the courthouse. "I've always said the courts are where democracy plays out." He acknowledged the DPP's decision and said he would abide by it.

But the legal battle is far from finished. Multiple parties—the council itself, witnesses, the former CEO, each of the councillors, and Penman—are now locked in a dispute over who pays the legal costs. The courtroom this morning held five different lawyers representing various clients, while Penman represented himself. The costs have been described as significant. Magistrate Patrick Southey indicated that at least a full day of court time would be needed just to calculate what each party owes. The group will return to court in late August to continue that argument.

Mayor Clark emerged from court with a brief statement. "We are extremely pleased with the outcome," he said, "and we will leave it there." The council confirmed all five councillors would resume their duties immediately. Yet the underlying problem remains unresolved. The Victorian government has acknowledged that the loophole in the Local Government Act needs to be closed, and legislation to do so is being considered by parliament. Until that happens, Rural Councils Victoria warned, the threat will persist. Any resident with a grievance and the determination to file charges could, in theory, force a council to stand down and trigger the same cascade of disruption that Hepburn just experienced.