Blue Mountains Council cleared over some of Ray Hadley claims

It’s the alleged corruption saga that has plagued the Blue Mountains and dragged on for years, now misconduct investigators have delivered a report into the allegations initially levelled by 2GB’s Ray Hadley.

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The public inquiry into allegations of corruption at the Blue Mountains City Council originally broadcast by 2GB’s Ray Hadley has all but cleared the local government of any nefarious activity.

An interim report into the probe tabled in state parliament this week has quashed some of the claims levelled by the high-profile radio personality, stating that in several instances the allegations had “no basis”.

The report only made findings in regards to some of the accusations, with the inquiry ongoing and still investigating other complaints.

Hadley’s broadcast had sparked the internal investigations. Picture: James Gourley/Getty Images

Blue Mountains Mayor Mark Greenhill, pictured, featured heavily in the corruption report.

The inquiry is yet to release its findings relating to Mr Hadley’s 2017 claims of an “asbestos contamination cover up”, but on Monday it concluded the council acted in accordance with guidelines in relation to several staff appointments called into question in a November 2017 broadcast.

The report states there was “no breach … much less corruption” when acting general manager Stuart Liddell’s golfing partner was appointed to plum gig as a project lead at the council.

The radio broadcast claimed Mr Liddell ran “a boy’s club” where people with a connection to the electricity sector were favoured for management positions, however, the inquiry has found he avoided any involvement in the appointment process due to the conflict of interest.

Several council staff were in the crosshairs of corruption investigators, but have now mostly been cleared of any potential wrongdoing. Picture: AAP/Carmela Roche

Mr Liddell was eventually stood down from his role in 2018 when asbestos contamination claims came to light.

The report has also rejected the assertion that Mr Liddell was a “captain’s pick” for the job by mayor Mark Greenhill and that documents were being doctored at the council.

“(The inquiry’s terms of reference) do not mention Ray Hadley,” a 2GB spokeswoman said.

“Yet the commission of inquiry has mentioned Hadley 52 times in this report and multiple times in others. It’s unclear to 2GB why Hadley rather than the conduct of the BMCC seems to be the subject of the inquiry.

Blue Mountains City Council was contacted for comment.

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