Recommendations on Wingecarribee Shire Council Public Inquiry

The community of the Wingecarribee Shire could be left with no councillors until the next local election in 2024, following recommendations based on the shocking claims made during the public inquiry hearings.

The community of the Wingecarribee Shire could be left with no councillors until the next local election in 2024, following recommendations based on the shocking claims made during the public inquiry hearings.

The last few weeks of hearings have revealed allegations of bullying, intimidation and abuse at the hands of councillors, who have been suspended since March 2021.

Looking at the evidence, Counsel Assisting the Commissioner into the public inquiry, David Parish, has provided closing submissions this week that recommend all councillors should be dismissed and that the interim administrator Viv May should remain until the next local council election in 2024.

Wingecarribee Shire could be dismissed following Public Inquiry allegations. Picture: WSC

Mr Parish justified his reasoning in the report and detailed the effect the behaviour of councillors had had on staff and the community.

“The dynamics that existed between the councillors and the culture that had festered over several terms infected the ability of the governing body to properly perform its roles under the Act,” Mr Parish said.

“While councillors may have been able to write off discord and disruption as robust debate or incisive questioning, the damage their conduct inflicted on their relationship with the community and the council staff was significant.

“The poor relationships between councillors and staff, and between councillors, was allowed to continue, and it did have a destabilising effect on the council, its staff, and the community it serves.

“This destabilising effect exacerbated trauma in the aftermath of the bushfires, it undermined the confidence of the community in the councillors’ ability to deliver projects that improved the future economic and social prospects of the shire, and it contributed to a workplace that was not safe.”

He also pointed out that the behaviour of the governing body had become “increasingly dysfunctional” since 2018.

Mr Parish also listed recommendations for when inducting and training councillors in the future. These included:

• Proper training in respect of what powers are available to councillors when there is disruption by a minority of councillors;
• More fulsome training in respect of councillors obligations under Work Health and Safety legislation;
• Proper records of who attends training;
• Extra training in the chairing of meetings given to the mayor and deputy mayor.

Spokeswoman for the Southern Highlands Chamber of Commerce, Carisa Wells, said the decision to keep on the interim administrator was a “great opportunity to rebuild the council,” however she could see how this would negatively impact the community until 2024.

“The negative is that the community voices are not represented when there are no councillors and when there's not a vast array of opinions on certain items,” Ms Wells said.

Any suspended councillor, former councillor over the 2016 term, the council or the interim administrator who wish to respond to the recommendations, will be able to able to do so by May 23.

Then the final submissions will be handed down by Commissioner Ross Glover and provided to the Minister for Local Government, Wendy Tuckerman.