Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun calls for Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig to resign or be sacked

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun has called for the premier to sack Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig if he refuses to resign, following a tumultuous few months for the southwest Sydney council.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun (left) has called for the resignation of Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig (right).

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun has labelled Ron Hoenig a “hypocrite” and demanded the Local Government Minister’s resignation, following the release of an interim report he has described as a “significant injustice” for staff at the embattled southwest Sydney council.

Mr Mannoun has also called for NSW Premier Chris Minns to sack Mr Hoenig if he doesn’t quit, claiming the minister “knew what he was doing” when his office released the 50-page report alleging widespread dysfunction at the council before this weekend’s election.

“The minister knew exactly the impact that he was having by releasing a report that did not afford people procedural fairness is a significant injustice,” Mr Mannoun said.

“People’s names were in the report and they had not been spoken to … that has brought significant duress to our staff and they don’t deserve to be treated like this.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun. Picture: Monique Harmer

“He should resign and, if he doesn’t resign, (he) should be stacked immediately by the premier.”

The call for the minister’s resignation follows Liverpool City Council lodging an 11th-hour appeal, ensuring the weekend’s election will go ahead.

The council is challenging a judgment of the Land and Environment Court, where Justice John Robson had last week left the door open for Mr Hoenig to follow through on his intention to suspend councillors and delay the looming pool.

Justice Robson rejected the majority of the case the council brought against Mr Hoenig and Office of Local Government deputy secretary Brett Whitworth, including an allegation they exhibited bias by publishing the interim report.

However, the judge upheld a claim that Mr Whitworth had failed to afford procedural fairness by publishing the document prior to a public inquiry into the council.

NSW Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig. Picture: Nikki Short

Commissioner Ross Glover is set to conduct the public inquiry after constituents have cast their votes.

Mr Mannoun, speaking exclusively to this masthead, said he supported the inquiry.

He also took aim at Mr Hoenig, labelling him a “hypocrite” after the minister claimed, during budget estimates last Thursday, that the allegations made against Liverpool City Council were “the worst I’ve seen of any council”.

“He should read the ICAC report into Botany council when he was the mayor, where the CFO (chief financial officer) was found embezzling over $2m under his watch,” Mr Mannoun said.

“He is a hypocrite. He has used this process to help the Labor Party and to remove a political opponent, and he’s breached the ministerial code of conduct.”

A NSW Government spokeswoman told this masthead these were “serious assertions that will not be entertained”.

“There are serious concerns of dysfunction and alleged corruption within Liverpool City Council and the government will be ensuring these concerns are fully examined as part of the public inquiry,” she said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns. Picture: Nikki Short

Mr Mannoun said the last few months had been “absolute insanity”.

“We will fight to make sure that our people are properly represented, so we can continue what we’re doing, or you can have a bunch of crazy independent and crazy Labor Party people with no experience be in charge of this place,” he said.

“(Liverpool City Council) is not a tuck shop. This is more like an ASX 200 company.”

Despite the looming public inquiry following Saturday’s election, Mr Mannoun said the council had a “clear plan of what we want to achieve”.

“We have a record infrastructure bill where we’re building the new pool at Carnes Hill,” he said.

“We’re upgrading the Whitlam Centre and we have the biggest change in the night-time economy in Liverpool.

“We have festivals running, families are enjoying themselves and we want to keep that going,” he said.

“We are number one in the state for housing approvals with $1.7bn homes approved in the last financial year, so we’ve done the hard work.”