City of Sydney to fight to keep bullying and harrassment report secret
A FOUR-YEAR fight to release a controversial report into bullying and harrassment within the City of Sydney rangers’ department has progressed to court.
Central Sydney
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A FOUR-YEAR fight to release a controversial report into bullying within the City of Sydney Rangers’ Department has finally progressed to court.
A former ranger for the City, has brought the proceedings against his ex-employer in a bid to force the release of the Warfield Report – an independent investigation into claims of bullying and harassment within the rangers’ unit – to the public.
The report, which was commissioned in 2012, has never been released fully, despite requests by both the former ranger and former Liberal councillor Edward Mandla under the Government Information (Public Access) Act. A heavily redacted version of the document, which excluded the details and findings of the investigation, was released last year.
The case will now appear before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on December 12 and 13.
The former ranger is seeking to make public both the report and any recommendations it made to council.
The City is pushing for the hearing to be held in confidence – excluding the public and the former ranger – as well as requesting that no record of the session be released.
In a submission by the City of Sydney to the tribunal, it claimed the release of the document was against the public interest, for reasons including that City staff who participated in the investigation were “invited to participate with assurance that the discussions with (the investigator) would be confidential”.
The submission also stated that the “disclosure of the information sought would prejudice the supply to the respondent of confidential information by employees in the future” and would “open up old wounds” which the City has been working on healing with staff.
John Preston, the lawyer for the former ranger, said the report was a matter of public interest. “The City of Sydney loves secrecy, they always have. They are one of the most extensive users of the secrecy provision clause,” he said.
Claims of problems within the rangers’ unit have continued to plague the City, culminating in a SafeWork NSW investigation following the death of a ranger last year which is ongoing.
A spokeswoman for the City said parts of the hearing would not be held in open court as standard procedure and that the Warfield Report contains confidential information about certain staff.
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