Chambers of secrets: Adelaide’s most confidential councils

Thousands of debates have been held behind closed doors this year, show new figures revealing which councils are quickest to kick out ratepayers.

Adelaide councils are excluding ratepayers from debates and hiding documents on thousands of occasions, amid accusations they are using secrecy provisions to avoid embarrassment.

Analysis of public registers of secret deliberations and documents kept behind closed doors shows councils have banned ratepayers from meetings 3588 times.

Independent MLC John Darley, a former state Valuer-General, said the huge number of secret deliberations showed laws were being misused.

Mr Darley asked why almost all councils would exclude the public from discussions of the performance of the council CEO, given it is the ratepayers who fund their annual salaries into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“If the rules are being properly applied, why is there such a wide difference between councils which are secretive and those which are not,” Mr Darley said.

He said code of conduct complaints between councillors was one issue which was routinely discussed behind closed doors.

“They are kept secret so that ratepayers don’t find out about what is really minor squabbling between factions and personalities,” he said.

He described another case where “one council discussed damage to a flooded gum tree in secret”. “Why is that a big secret?” he said.

SA legislation allows councils to keep matters secret for commercial reasons, public interest, trade secrets, safety of the council and staff, legal matters and communication with state government ministers.

In total, 1971 documents of the 3588 secret debates items were later released to the public after a period of time expired.

South Australian politician Frank Pangallo.

The last review of how councils were using secrecy powers was in 2012, when Ombudsman Richard Bingham audited 12 at random and found the powers had been used 725 times between 2009 and 2011.

Tea Tree Gully council had the most easily accessed secrecy statistics, going back to 1990 on the council website. But ratepayers of some councils could only access their decisions in annual reports, with those going back to 2018 on the websites.

In a written statement, the Local Government Association said: “The overwhelming majority of council reports are tabled and discussed in plain sight, in meetings open to the community”.

In 2019/20, Adelaide City Council went behind closed doors 72 times, followed by Playford (60), Marion (58), Onkaparinga (52) and Salisbury (43).

SA Best MLC Frank Pangallo said of most concern councils banning ratepayers from deliberations on the performance of CEOs.

CEO contracts generally require an independent performance review.

“In one case it turned out the CEO was doing a performance review on himself,’’ Mr Pangallo said.

“We come across secrecy all the time from councils, especially when you have to ask for information using the Freedom of Information Act.

“It is outrageous that so many of them are resorting to keeping things secret and so often. There are sometimes valid reasons, but there are many matters of public interest that the ratepayers need to know about.”

Mr Pangallo said it was clear that councils were enacting secrecy provisions to avoid bad publicity and an adverse reaction from ratepayers. “They are doing it not for the right reasons but to avoid a backlash from ratepayers,’’ he said.

The LGA spokesman said the number of times councils heard items in confidence shouldn’t be related to the size of the council, but the business at hand.

One anomaly to be corrected in legislation being considered by parliament will allow councils to deliberate awards in secret.

“This change might increase the number of items being considered confidentially by councils, but will also allow the outcome of awards to be kept confidential until they are formally announced,’’ the LGA spokesman said.