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Covering the suburbs of Darebin and surrounds
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War clause dominates council laptop tender discussion
⊸ News ⋅ By Emily Kulich
Published at 11:10pm on Monday 3 March 2025
COUNCILLORS’ decisions on a $1.88 million tender for new laptops were, in part, informed by international military action.
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City of Darebin is looking to replace its fleet of laptops as reliability and security of the five-plus-year-old devices declines.
Uplinx Advanced Services were, at last Monday’s council meeting, unanimously chosen to provide Dell laptops to the council, pending final assessments.
Choice of laptop manufacturer dominated discussion at the meeting, with councillors and members of the public expressing a preference to avoid another batch of Hewlett Packard (HP) laptops.
Central to discussion was a policy introduced by Darebin councillors last year which requires companies tendering for council contracts declare any affiliation with international military actions.
HP is a significant target of the international movement to boycott companies believed to be associated with the oppression of Palestinian people.
Six community members spoke at the start of the meeting, all expressing concerns the council’s policy might not preclude purchase of HP laptops, especially given the process relied on self-declaration.
In response to one question, Darebin Mayor Cr Kristine Olaris confirmed the policy was followed when considering tenders.
“It was used for this particular tender process, Cr Olaris said.
Darebin’s acting chief executive, Michael Tudball, told a later questioner four tenderers met probity requirements. He declined to answer a follow-up question as to whether any had failed.
Tenders are private until the council makes a decision, at which point the successful applicant’s bid is revealed.
While speaking on the motion, two councillors hinted at more than four tenders having been received.
Cr Alexandra Sangster, discussing at the meeting what she described as inadequate checks on declarations under the policy, said councillors “recognise there is no authoritative source… to prove any suppliers or producers have or do not have links to military or humanitarian injustice… but we also know there is a scale of complicity, and that the other options given to us (councillors) were for a product highly implicated on this scale.”
Perhaps more coy in his response, Cr Gaetano Greco said “unfortunately, I’m not able to go into the ethical reasons associated with some of the companies that lodged their tenders.”
It is unclear if any tenders were rejected for other reasons.
Included with the motion was acknowledgment a review of the Social and Sustainable Procurement Policy is scheduled for this year.
Speaking when moving the motion, Cr Matt Arturi said “it is clear the policy needs to be reviewed… to ensure the outcome of its implementation is consistent with its intention.”
According to Cr Greco, the precedent set by this council’s interpretation of the policy could have important implications.
“If we make this decision unanimously, I think it will be one of the most important decisions… this council will make in terms of… having an ethical supply chain when… awarding tender contracts,” he said ahead of the vote.
“I hope councillors make a conscientious decision in regards to this because of the gravity and importance of what we see before our eyes taking place, which is a genocide.”