Empty chairs at Town Hall: Why the Lord Mayor’s team keeps leaving the room

It’s become a common occurrence in the City of Melbourne’s meetings when a planning issue is on the agenda.

One by one, councillors stand up and walk out of the room, recusing themselves because of a potential conflict of interest.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece and his team of councillors known as “Team Nick”, comprising Roshena Campbell, Kevin Louey and Mark Scott, have recused themselves on eight occasions in just 18 months. In contrast, Reece’s predecessor Sally Capp recused herself nine times across her entire four-year term.

Recusals are the proper process followed by councillors to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest, even when no such conflict exists, but are regarded by groups such as Transparency International as the “bare minimum”.

Team Nick has been unable to vote on significant planning issues because of donations from property owners and developers including a pharmaceutical giant and a wealthy family who have also promised to donate a fountain to the City of Melbourne.

Reece said conflicts of interest were a common occurrence in local government.

“That’s because local councils make decisions about local matters where councillors often have a personal connection,” he said. “What’s important is that conflicts are reported in an open and transparent way, and that is exactly what has occurred at the City of Melbourne.”

Team Nick is facing an increased risk of potential conflicts after $950,484 was raised for the group’s 2024 campaign, three times the amount raised by Capp during her final campaign.

Team Nick’s money was raised from a who’s who of Melbourne, including wealthy business people, trade unions and major landholders, some of whom are planning or considering developments. Reece pledged before the election that he would not take money from property developers.

The onus is on individual councillors to decide when they should recuse themselves because of a potential conflict of interest. In some instances Reece and Team Nick councillors have chosen not to recuse themselves despite campaign donations from potentially related parties.

Reece and his councillor team have opted not to recuse themselves from council decisions about developments involving the Queen Victoria Market, despite councillor Mark Scott owning and operating a business at the market and donating to the Team Nick campaign.

“If there was ever a decision which had a material impact, a financial impact, on a donor, then we would recuse ourselves,” Reece said.

Reece said when a matter comes before council where he thinks there might be a conflict, he seeks advice from the City of Melbourne staff on whether they think there is a conflict or not and, while he makes his own decision, he always follows that advice.

“I ultimately make my own call,” he said. “I rely on advice as part of forming that view.”

The other Team Nick councillors did not respond when asked why they had not recused themselves on all Queen Victoria Market issues.

Team Nick recused themselves from voting on two items related to the Macaulay Structure Plan because of a donation from a local property owner, but Reece said they voted on another because it was a “procedural motion about people being appointed to a committee”.

Reece said he had declared a conflict of interest on less than 4 per cent of the issues that came before council and was on the record multiple times advocating for donation reform.

“I am hopeful we will see new rules in place for the next local government elections,” he said.

Immediately following Reece’s election, Greens councillor Olivia Ball warned the “obscene” amounts of money donated to the election campaign meant that councillors would frequently have to recuse themselves and said: “I fear this term of council will be mired in conflicts of interest.”

In some meetings, the council has only narrowly reached a quorum because so many councillors recused themselves.

Clancy Moore, chief executive of Transparency International, said that while it was good councillors were choosing to voluntarily recuse themselves from conflicts of interest, “it’s kind of the bare minimum”.

Moore said ideally there would be stronger and more frequently enforced codes of conduct around public officials’ behaviours, including interactions with lobbyists, that could have remedies or sanctions if they breached those codes of conduct.

“The standards in the codes, including those for lobbyists, must be enforced,” he said. “Otherwise it’s up to the individual to do the right thing, which you know, time and time again, proves that it’s not always sufficient.”

The decisions Reece and Team Nick councillors recused themselves from in the past year are:

March 17, 2026 – Macaulay public aquisition

The Macaulay precinct is an urban renewal area within the suburbs of North Melbourne and Kensington.

The council considered whether to appoint the Macaulay Structure Plan Advisory Committee to advise the planning minister on the acquisition of land for open space purposes within the area.

Team Nick recused themselves due to a $10,000 campaign donation from Lou Nominees, an investment vehicle for the Marcocci family who own land including 64-90 Sutton Road in North Melbourne, which is part of the Macaulay precinct. The Marcocci family have also promised to donate a fountain to the City of Melbourne, which Reece included as one of his election pledges.

December 2, 2025 – Proposed Comedy Theatre development

Lasalle Investment Management and the Marriner Group want to redevelop the heritage-listed Comedy Theatre on Exhibition Street and build a 27-storey tower behind it containing offices and a 270-room hotel.

Team Nick recused themselves as The Marriner Group donated $25,000 to their election campaign.

December 2, 2025 – Macaulay structure plan

The Macaulay Structure Plan was before council in relation to an amendment seeking to implement the Macaulay Structure Plan 2021 into the Melbourne Planning Scheme, setting new rules for building heights, setbacks, density, land-use mix, and streets and open space across the fast-growing inner-north precinct.

Team Nick recused themselves as the Marcocci family donated $10,000 to Team Nick’s election campaign via their investment vehicle, Lou Nominees.

October 28, 2025 – Road discontinuance, Haymarket Walk

Councillors endorsed the $3.7 million sale of pedestrian walkway Haymarket Walk by the City of Melbourne to the University of Melbourne.

The walkway between Elizabeth and Berkeley streets and will allow the university to consolidate land for the $650 million development of the Australian Institute for Infectious Disease.

Team Nick recused themselves because Global biotech company CSL, which is involved in the institute, donated $4000 to their election campaign.

October 21, 2025 – 52-storey apartment tower at 93-103 Clarendon Street, Southbank

Councillors backed a $160 million apartment tower at Clarendon Street in Southbank designed by Fender Katsalidis and containing 510 apartments.

Team Nick recused themselves as the applicant before council – LAS Property Management Pty Ltd – donated $2000 towards their election campaign.

August 5, 2025 – ETU headquarters, 192-200 Arden Street, North Melbourne

Councillors backed a rezoning of the Electrical Trades Union’s headquarters from general residential zone to mixed use zone to allow for future expansion of the union’s office and training facilities.

Team Nick recused themselves as the ETU was the largest donor to their election campaign, apart from Reece himself, donating $60,000.

June 17, 2025 – MPavilion, Queen Victoria Gardens

Japanese architect Tadao Ando’s MPavilion was granted a five-year extension to remain at the Queen Victoria Gardens by the City of Melbourne. The pavilion opened in 2023 as a temporary structure but many of the country’s top architects lobbied and petitioned to keep it in place permanently.

Team Nick recused themselves as the MPavilion series is spearheaded by philanthropist and retail mogul Naomi Milgrom, who donated $2091 to their campaign.

December 3, 2024 – ETU Headquarters, 192-200 Arden Street, North Melbourne

The rezoning of the ETU’s headquarters initially came before the council in December 2024 when councillors considered all submissions and referred them to an independent panel for review. Team Nick recused themselves due to the ETU’s $60,000 campaign donation.

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