City Beat: Opposition leader Jared Cassidy wants council-wide probe

Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner’s opposition in City Hall has called for a sweeping investigation into Brisbane City Council, similar to the CCC probe that took down the former Ipswich City Council.

COUNCIL opposition leader Jared Cassidy has ramped up pressure on Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, calling for a sweeping Operation Belcarra-style investigation of the entire council to root out a “disturbing’’ pattern of alleged corruption and other wrongdoing.

Cassidy’s demand follows City Beat’s exclusive revelation that key managers and staff in the “compliance and regulatory services’’ (CARS) division have been ousted over the past year for a range of transgressions, including rorting, bullying and nepotism.

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One insider described CARS as a chronically dysfunctional boys’ club’ previously tarnished by scandal. More on that below!

Operation Belcarra was a Crime and Corruption Commission probe of southeast Queensland local governments following the 2016 elections that resulted in the take-down of the entire Ipswich City Council.

“Brisbane was excluded from the Operation Belcarra investigation, which found serious and systemic corruption in surrounding councils,’’ Cassidy told City Beat.

“I have been sceptical Brisbane is somehow exempt from the sort of behaviour Belcarra uncovered. I believe a full inquiry is the only way we can have confidence Brisbane has not been infected.

“A toxic culture like this always starts at the top and any investigations should be starting with the political leadership at Council.’’

Cassidy has previously called for the CCC to investigate a questionable property acquisition by the BCC and a $70,000 advertising contract handed out to a firm linked to an LNP councillor.

He has also pushed for probes of ratepayer money used to fund political advertising and thousands of dollars splashed out on cab fares.

But Schrinner dismissed these problems, including the drama swirling around CARS, which enforces laws on parking, animal management, footpath dining, food hygiene, abandoned vehicles and other matters.

“While Labor’s claims are sadly predictable, I have seen no evidence they are credible and I’m certainly not concerned,’’ Schrinner said.

“Cr Cassidy has made a lot of politically motivated claims, but without any actual evidence, it’s time to put up or shut up.’’

Jared Cassidy

Adrian Schrinner

BLOKEY CULTURE

Despite Schrinner’s downplaying of the matter, the long-running problems inside the CARS division are so severe that a new manager, Anne Lenz, was parachuted in late last year to help clean up the mess.

Notably, Lenz is a cleanskin with no previous ties to the department but she’s a lawyer who cut her teeth as an EPA investigator.

She took on the job after 15 years as a top gun inside the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, where she oversaw prosecutions and ran the energy resources branch.

From what we understand, Lenz has used all her forensic skills, and a plentiful supply of disinfectant, to tackle her latest assignment. She has lopped off the heads of two top managers and at least another six senior staffers.

City Beat spies tells us that CARS has long been a source of trouble for the BCC because of its “grubby, blokey culture’’ and the huge pressure staff feel to generate money.

“It’s a high-profile and sensitive area,’’ one source said.

It’s understood that similar allegations of wrongdoing saw a broom sweep through CARS about seven years ago, prompting the departure of a number of senior figures.

And where did some of these big shots land after they were turfed out? Why, wouldn’t you know, back in the public service elsewhere around the state. Talk about a boys’ club!

Indeed, two of the aforementioned big guns purged in the most recent round of bloodletting are once more suckling on the public teat.

One started a very similar gig at another Queensland council late last year, while another kicked off work recently in a State Government department in Brisbane.

A CCC spin doctor would not confirm or deny this week whether a complaint had been lodged about CARS.

But it’s understood the corruption busters previously put CARS under the microscope with only limited success.