Secret Ipswich trip details to be released, says city’s new mayor

Ipswich’s new mayor has promised a forensic audit of council to clear the air following a corruption watchdog investigation that led to convictions against eight people, including ex-Mayor Paul Pisasale and former CEO Carl Wulf.

IPSWICH’S incoming mayor Teresa Harding has pledged to lift the lid on “questionable” overseas travel by former politicians and council executives.

Brisbane City Council election results:

QLD Elections wrap: Council and state by-election results, issues, fallout

The senior Queensland public servant was voted in with more than 40 per cent of the 60 per cent of votes counted as of Wednesday.

New Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding.

She has promised to make public a forensic audit of council in a final act of clearing the air following a corruption investigation that has so far led to the criminal convictions against eight people, including corrupt former chief executive officer Carl Wulff and ex-Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale.

Ms Harding said she will use her first council meeting to move a motion for the release of trip itineraries, director fees and other documents of companies owned and run by Ipswich council.

“The ratepayers of Ipswich want to know how their money was spent,” she said.

“In order for us to heal, we actually have to know what they did and then we can move on.”

It comes after the refusal of multiple Right to Information requests by The Courier-Mail for details of overseas trips by politicians, including Pisasale, and former council executives with the now wound-up council-owned company Ipswich City Properties, of which they were directors.

Former Ipswich City Council CEO Carl Wulff in jail.

ICP directors have included Pisasale, Wulff and veteran Ipswich councillor Paul Tully.

Mr Tully has not been charged with any offences.

The state’s council watchdog, the Office of the Independent Assessor, last month released a statement revealing Mr Tully has “outstanding matters against him”.

Mr Tully, who says he would fully co-operate with the OIA, is expected to be returned as an Ipswich councillor following last week’s poll.

He told the newspaper he would assess Ms Harding’s motion when it came to council, but has indicated a level of opposition to the plan; accusing Ms Harding of “living in the past.”

Paul Tully is set to be returned as an Ipswich councillor.

Documents discussing the use of a private jet to fly around the US in 2010 and photos of Pisasale with others in Europe have been among the Ipswich City Properties' trip details blocked from release following RTI requests.

Council at one stage spent $83,000 on lawyers Clayton Utz to keep the US trip details buried.

It later admitted to hiring a private jet, saying it was the “most cost effective” option, but refused to reveal the price tag.

RTI requests by the newspaper for trip documents were most recently knocked back again in 2019.

Ms Harding, who headed up the State Government’s open data scheme before running for mayor, said she hoped to make the documents public within months in her first act of office.

Disgraced former Ipswich City Council mayor Paul Pisasale. Picture: AAP/Dave Hunt

The Crime and Corruption Commission’s damning Operation Windage report on its Ipswich corruption probe in 2018 found wholly council-owned and controlled companies were a corruption risk as they fell outside its jurisdiction and were out of reach of freedom of information laws.

Senior members of council “appeared to be exploiting their involvement in these companies for their own personal benefit and the benefit of close associates,” the report found.

It enabled council rules to be circumvented and ratepayer funds used for “questionable purposes.”

Funds were used to pay for business class flights, meals at expensive restaurants, accommodation and memberships to the exclusive Brisbane networking venue The Brisbane Club.

Mr Tully has previously defended his Brisbane Club membership, saying he only went there twice before cancelling his membership as it was “never of any benefit” to him.