Former Logan City Council chief executive officer Andrew Milner on CCC radar
ONE of his predecessors was sacked in controversial circumstances, now this key figure at a strife-ridden southeast Queensland council is in corruption officials’ sights after the appointment of a business partner to a council job paying up to $300,000 a year.
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ANOTHER key figure at strife-ridden Logan council is in corruption officials’ sights after the appointment of a business partner to a council job paying up to $300,000 a year.
The Sunday Mail can reveal the state’s corruption watchdog is looking at conflict-of-interest allegations that triggered the sudden resignation of Logan’s chief executive, Andrew Milner, in February last year – just seven months after the former mining executive took up the $500,000-a-year job.
Details of Mr Milner’s resignation were kept confidential at the time by council.
But a Sunday Mail investigation has found his departure came two days after Mr Milner announced his private business associate had scored a top council job.
The newspaper has seen a February 2017 email in which Mr Milner announces to councillors that Perth-based ex-mining manager Andrew Shook would be joining council’s executive leadership team.
Mr Milner says in the email that Mr Shook had been selected as the new head of innovation and strategic projects after a “wide-ranging national search”.
Mr Shook “impressed the panel with his success in the area of leading and driving innovation across large complex business operations,” Mr Milner wrote in the February 2017 email.
But councillors raised questions about Mr Milner’s handling of the appointment a day later after stumbling upon his connection with Mr Shook on networking site LinkedIn.
Mr Shook listed himself on LinkedIn as a director of industrial technology solutions company Nexion Corp, according to a screenshot taken at the time of the job announcement and passed to investigators.
Mr Milner was then one of three founding directors of Nexion Corp, company searches show, and Mr Shook formally became a Nexion co-director less than three weeks after his council job announcement. Both Mr Milner and Mr Shook also share a mining background, working with resource giants Rio Tinto and BHP.
APPOINTMENT LED TO A CCC COMPLAINT:
A complaint about Mr Milner’s involvement in Mr Shook’s selection has been made to the Crime and Corruption Commission by a Logan councillor.
The complaint, seen by The Sunday Mail, says mayor Luke Smith told councillors at the time that Mr Milner had told a council human resources officer of his link to Mr Shook.
But councillors were warned by Smith, who is on unrelated corruption and perjury charges by the CCC, not to approach the HR officer to confirm the account as he was “not coping with the issue,” according to the complaint. Mr Smith is defending his CCC charges.
Logan’s new CEO Sharon Kelsey was later asked by councillor Darren Power to investigate the issue with HR staff and she was unable to verify the account, CCC investigators have been told.
Ms Kelsey later herself turned CCC whistleblower and is currently suing the council.
Multiple council sources have also told The Sunday Mail that Mr Milner failed to fill out a register of interests as required by council.
It is understood several councillors argued against accepting Mr Milner’s resignation, which meant a six-month pay-out, but were outnumbered and at odds with council legal advice.
The CCC confirmed it was “reviewing the circumstances surrounding the allegation.”
Mr Milner could not be reached. Mr Shook told The Sunday Mail he had “nothing much to tell as I never started work (at council)” and refused to comment further. Council refused to comment.
CEO A SURPRISING CHOICE
Mr Milner’s hiring to the top position of Queensland’s fifth biggest council in 2016 raised eyebrows as he came to the post from the corporate sector and had no Government experience.
His LinkedIn profile shows he was previously the managing director of technology deliver at Rio Tinto.
Smith at the time said he believed council had found the right person to “take Logan into the future.”
Months after arriving at council’s Logan Central administration centre, Mr Milner, Smith and two council officers embarked on a study tour of the US under the its controversial Global Connections Strategy, which aims to establish economic ties across the world.
Mr Milner also went on a $23,000 solo trip to Europe in December 2016, with emails showing some meetings with major international firms were still to be locked in days ahead of the six-day trip.
Council prepared a response to media questions about the trip at the time confirming Mr Milner was “attracting global partners” in Germany that month under the program.
Amid criticism about the cost of the program by councillor Darren Power, a council report was put to council to rewrite its travel policy to give the mayor and chief executive officer the power to approve overseas travel for four people or less without the approval of council.
It would have overridden existing rules requiring council approval for any overseas travel.
Media reports at the time described Smith as having been blindsided by the proposal and helping vote it down at council.
But council emails, released to the ABC under Right to Information, reveal months later Smith advised council officers he wanted to go to Korea later that year with Mr Milner and was under the impression “it did not need to go to council for approval” under the Global Connections Program.
He was reminded all overseas travel had to have a council resolution, including travel under the program.
The travel appears to have created further issues in in January last year when Smith sent Mr Milner an email arguing he did not “believe that we should be cancelling all travel (as) I am desperate to get partnerships underway.”
Cr Power at the time raised concerns with then Local Government Minister and Deputy Premier Jackie Trad that about “excessive spending on luxury overseas travel” and overspending of the Global Connections budget.
Attempts to reach Smith for comment were unsuccessful.
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