In short:
A state-appointed monitor will step into Wyndham City Council as the fallout over Preet Singh deepens and councillors unite against him. The move follows his decision to step aside, a protest in Werribee, and growing calls for leadership stability.
A state government monitor will be appointed to Wyndham City Council as pressure continues to build around embattled councillor Preet Singh, after Local Government Minister Nick Staikos said the move is aimed at helping “restore stability in the leadership and ensure good governance.”
The minister said he was “deeply concerned by the ongoing instability in leadership at Wyndham City Council” and said residents deserved a council “entirely focused on them.”
The announcement comes after Cr Singh said on 1 April 2026 that he would step aside from his mayoral duties, but did not say how long he would remain away from the role. Deputy mayor Jasmine Hill is set to assume the mayoral duties from 2 April 2026 while Cr Singh considers his position.
The political fallout has intensified since it emerged on 31 March 2026 that Cr Singh wrote a character reference in 2024 for Kashyap Patel, who later faced court on child sex offence charges. Patel pleaded guilty to grooming a child under 16, transmitting indecent communication to a person under 16, and sexually assaulting a child under 16. He was sentenced in September 2024 to nine months’ jail and a two-year community corrections order.
Community anger was again on display on 1 April 2026, when a protest at Wyndham Civic Centre in Werribee went ahead as planned. Victim-survivor John Weiss led the rally and called on Cr Singh to resign, while former mayors Heather Marcus and Henry Barlow also addressed the crowd. Protesters applauded when news spread that the state government would appoint monitors.
In a statement, Wyndham councillors welcomed the intervention, saying: “We welcome the Minister’s announcement that he will be appointing a monitor to the City of Wyndham.
“While we never wanted to be in this position, we have had our hand forced by a Mayor who refuses to do the right thing and step down.
“This is not an issue of Governance; it is a case of one Councillor putting their interests above those of the Council and Wyndham residents.
“Wyndham Council has never been more united, and we look forward to working with the Monitor to restore stability and get on with the job of making decisions in the best interests of the community.”
Cr Singh’s position has also become harder to defend inside the council chamber, with all 10 of his fellow elected councillors declaring he is “no longer fit” to serve as mayor, marking a significant escalation in the crisis engulfing Wyndham’s leadership.
With a monitor now set to step in, the focus shifts to whether Cr Singh will formally resign or attempt to return after stepping aside. The intervention signals the situation has moved beyond a local political dispute and into a broader governance issue for the state government.
