Port Pirie mayor John Rohde refuses to quit despite State Ombudsman’s findings of maladministration and misconduct
THE disgraced regional mayor of one of the state’s biggest councils was refusing to stand aside yesterday despite the public sector watchdog’s scathing findings into his ratepayer-funded overseas trips to visit an online girlfriend.
- The mayor, his online lover and two ratepayer-funded foreign trips
- Lawyer told mayor disclosing trip would bring ‘unnecessary scrutiny’
- Port Pirie council defends trade missions to the Philippines
- Embattled Pirie mayor guilty of misconduct, watchdog rules
THE disgraced regional mayor of one of the state’s biggest councils is refusing to stand aside despite the public sector watchdog’s scathing findings into his ratepayer-funded overseas trips to visit an online girlfriend.
State Ombudsman Wayne Lines this week found Port Pirie Mayor John Rohde guilty of maladministration — irregular and unauthorised use of public money or substantial mismanagement — and misconduct.
Mr Rohde’s wife leapt to his defence yesterday, describing him as a “good and decent man”.
Father of three Mr Rohde, 53, is seeking re-election for the $51,200 mayoral position.
Despite the damning report, the under-siege elected leader remained defiant on Tuesday night as he refused to step aside from Saturday’s council elections.
Mr Rohde, a former state Labor Party candidate who has also sought an independent Senate seat, did not return calls on Tuesday, while his lawyer declined to comment.
But his wife, Karen, publicly defended him on social media.
“As I am the only one to know honestly rest assured he remains a good and decent man who has served his community well and wants to continue to do so,” she wrote on a public Facebook site.
“As a family we are 100% behind him. He has always been unfairly targeted by those in the liberal party (sic), as a ‘labor man’ (sic) for a long time.
“He had never played dirty politics with anyone he has ever stood against, Rob Kerin, Brenton Vanstone or Geoff Brock and they have all been equally decent individuals.”
She added: “Public life is difficult on all families but one should always play the ball, never the man. Many do not know the man as we do.
“He has served his community well as we have seen over the last four years. Pirie (sic) will also have a budget surplus of over $900, 000. Tourism dollars will come into the region …”
Mr Lines, who investigated the mayor, councillors and the council using draconian secrecy powers, said the wrongdoing was “at the higher end of the scale”.
The Advertiser revealed in January details of his two ratepayer-funded trips to the Philippines, during which he met a woman with whom he had established an online relationship months earlier.
While he said Mr Rohde did not need to repay any money, Mr Lines urged the council to formally reprimand him. That will occur in January after new councillors take up their posts.
Mr Lines’s eight-month inquiry, triggered by a referral from Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander QC, included an investigation into The Advertiser’s story informants.
The newspaper declined to co-operate, because it was not prepared to identity confidential sources, while Mr Lines failed to uncover the leaker.
The council was also cleared of wrongdoing.
The trade missions, in April and May 2016, cost ratepayers $4440 for visits to an Asian country the local authority had no previous links with.
The mayor took his Filipino girlfriend, “Bita”, 46, to an Australian embassy function and official trade dinner on the second visit during a state government-led delegation on which the married mayor was the only local government official.
Mr Lines said he was “greatly troubled” by the secretly organised trip, a lack of documentation, no business plan and it being influenced by “personal, rather than public, interests”.
It gave rise to a “heightened risk of corruption”, he found.
A devastated Bita, who remains in the Philippines, declined to comment on Tuesday.
Friends say she has been left shocked by the “very traumatic” fallout.
During her interview with Mr Lines, she disputed the mayor’s claims the pair was not romantically involved during the official trips and accused the mayor of lying, according to the inquiry report.
A rival mayoral candidate, Mike Basley, 70, criticised the late timing of the report being made public, arguing local voters should have known about the findings earlier.
“I think the public have the right to know what the Ombudsman has to say and to know as soon as possible,” he said on Tuesday.
Another candidate, deputy mayor Leon Stephens, was unavailable after being advised to not comment so close to polling day.
In a statement, new council boss Peter Ackland said Mr Lines gave a late January deadline on what action would be taken against the mayor.
The new council would consider its findings.
An Electoral Commission spokeswoman said the inquiry had no bearing on the polls.
