Casey Council plagued by IBAC controversy, bullying claims and travel rorts
Squalid relationship spats, outrageous wage demands and even a “dirty dancing” affair — Casey’s Narre Warren chamber has been no stranger to disgrace. Here are just some of the disreputable deeds.
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The recent inquiry into planning corruption is fresh in the minds of the Casey ratepayers and the wider Melbourne community – but the road to IBAC has been paved with a series of rorts, scandals, outspoken (and outrageous) councillors and their scandalous or colourful behaviour.
Here’s a list of some of the biggest scandals to hit the fastest growing municipality in Melbourne’s southeast.
The councillor call for prayer against ‘forces of evil’
In 2003 a transgender naturopath said she suffered months of ridicule and vandal attacks she claims were spurred on by comments from two Casey councillors.
Olivia Watts said vandals targeted her home on several occasions after churches were asked by a councillor to hold a day of prayer to ward off witchcraft in May.
The Casey Pastors Network, made up of 45 churches, was asked to pray against the “forces for evil” he believed were trying to infiltrate the city.
The request came after Ms Watts – standing as a candidate at that year’s council elections – described herself as a witch.
Ms Watts reported having broken windows, smashed letterboxes and graffiti at her Cranbourne home.
One unrepentent councillor said at the time she “told the paper herself that she was a witch, it wasn’t us”
The newly elected councillor and the tabletop dancer
The same year, a councillor lost a bid to take out an intervention order against a former tabletop dancer who bore him a child.
At a case heard in Dandenong and Frankston magistrates’ courts, he sought an order against Renee Peterson, 27, a single mother-of-two and shop assistant, claiming she was harassing him and causing stress and embarrassment in his professional and personal life.
But the court found Ms Peterson, whose outburst at the swearing-in of councillors had prompted extra bylaws officers to be called in, posed no threat to the Mayfield Ward councillor, "except the truth".
Ms Peterson had shouted, `you could start off by paying child support’ at the councillor’s swearing in.
The court heard that in 1995 he met Ms Peterson, then 20, at Club Shoop, Dandenong, where she worked as a tabletop dancer.
He told the court he had a five-year affair and a child with Ms Peterson, while still married to his wife, Monica, the mother of his four other children and when he ran for council Ms Peterson put up flyers revealing he had a child with her.
“She just tried to embarrass me. She is making a spectacle of herself to attack my credibility and I want it to stop."
Pay us five times more
In 2005 Casey councillors called for their positions to be deemed full-time jobs with salaries of nearly $90,000 – five times their $18,000 a year wage.
But then Premier Steve Bracks told them they were living in fantasy land.
Mr Bracks said they were “dreaming".
“It’s a volunteer task and will continue to be a volunteer task," he said.
Councillors had voted to pursue a claim for remuneration based on 85 per cent of a state MP’s salary which would equate to $89,528.
They also wanted Casey’s 11 wards slashed to seven, whose councillors would get the full-time wage.
The idea was first raised by Cr Rob Wilson who argued it would make local government more efficient, accessible and attract good candidates.
“If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys," Cr Wilson said.
The ‘Dirty Dancing’ affair
In another scandal to rock the council in 2008, a councillor was accused of stealing the wife of his political rival.
He took the estranged wife of a former mayor to a council reception in Cranbourne and was accused of dancing provocatively with her in front of other councillors.
“It was like a scene out of Dirty Dancing,” a witness said.
The former mayor, who split from his wife in 2007, said at the time he was outraged his personal life had been dragged into the political arena.
“I’m in there trying to do my job and I’ve got another councillor trying to attack my private life,” he said.
The councillor at the time admitted dancing with the woman, but denied any risque moves.
The gas leak fiasco
In 2011, Casey residents won millions of dollars in compensation for a gas leak in the Brookland Greens Estate in Cranbourne.
Hundreds of families were evacuated from the area in 2008 after methane gas leaked from a nearby landfill site.
The massive class action was settled with hundreds of residents winning more than $23 million in compensation, including $13.5m from Casey Council and $10m by the EPA.
In 2009 the EPA confirmed the Stevensons Rd landfill was leaking about 1300 cubic metres of methane per hour into the air.
The landfill had operated until 2005 as a municipal tip for Casey and Frankston councils. Construction of Brookland Greens began in 1999 and in 2000 the developer and the council entered into a Section 173 Agreement stipulating no homes to be built within a 200 metre buffer of the landfill.
In 2004 VCAT – considering a planning permit to develop Stage 10 of the estate – approved the developer’s proposal to reduce the buffer along the western landfill boundary.
Two years later the EPA was notified via an anonymous complaint of bubbling stormwater puddles on an unsealed road within the partially constructed estate. Early tests confirmed landfill gas.
CEO controversy
Former Casey chief executive Mike Tyler was found guilty of breaching the Local Government Act, but avoided conviction after he and the council were sued for sexual harassment.
At the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on October 22, 2013, Mr Tyler was put on a 12-month good behaviour bond and ordered to pay $1000 to charity.
Mr Tyler’s charge stemmed from a secret out-of-court settlement with a single mother of two, who had sued both he and the council for sexual harassment.
Mr Tyler, who kept the top job after the scandal, stood down from his position in February 2018, which he had held for more 23 years.
At the time, the council called the departure a “mutual decision”.
The almost sacking
The State Government decided to appoint a monitor to oversee governance at City of Casey in 2016 after the Ombudsman slammed a bungled special charge scheme to seal a dirt road in Narre Warren South.
Minister for Local Government Natalie Hutchins said Casey was one of the least transparent councils in Victoria and said the Ombudsman’s findings into Casey’s handling of the Market Lane special charge scheme were damning.
Special charge schemes were used to help pay for infrastructure that will benefit a small group of residents, such as sealed roads, footpaths and underground drainage.
In the case of Market Lane the Ombudsman found a range of “substantial failings”, including that residents were denied the right to object.
The scheme, approved in 2014, cost $20,807 per property with an interest rate of 4.75 per cent.
Residents who objected to the scheme appealed to Narre Warren South State Labor MP Judith Graley, saying there was no consultation and the cost to them would be too high after the interest rate rose to 7.5 per cent.
At the time mayor Sam Aziz said Casey had acknowledged its error and had “acted swiftly”.
He said he welcomed the Ombudsman’s findings but accused the minister of being “over the top” and “political”.
Mosque fury
Casey captured the attention of outsiders again this year when chaotic scenes erupted outside the gallery after the council voted to approve two mosque applications , with several residents hurling insults at councillors.
A heavy police presence, including security, stood guard outside the chambers, with former mayor Amanda Stapledon confirming there were “safety concerns”.
In 2016, the council chambers were also swarmed with protesters after the council voted down the same proposed mosque.
The angry locals took their fight against controversial plans for a mosque to the state planning tribunal.
The three-day hearings, which began on March 2, came after about 800 residents opposed to Saarban Islamic Trust plans for a mosque at 365-367 Belgrave-Hallam Rd in Narre Warren North.
VCAT hasn’t yet made a ruling on the mosque.
Controversial character
Anti-mosque crusader and former councillor Rosalie Crestani, who was a member of the far right political party Rise Up Australia, has brought attention to Casey over the years.
Her bid to silence the city on gay rights was branded a cheap political stunt for the Rise Up Australia Party ahead of the State Election in 2014.
Cr Rosalie Crestani lobbied councillors to support her push to stop the city providing diversity training for staff. But her move failed.
In 2015 she was appointed deputy president of Rise Up Australia. The party held strong views against marriage equality, halal certification and multiculturalism.
Its former leader, Daniel Nalliah, also claimed to have resurrected people from the dead.
Ms Crestani has been leading the campaign against mosques in Casey and has held controversial views on gay marriage.
In 2015, Ms Crestani spoke at an anti-Islamic rally in Melbourne and claimed “the Koran should have a disclaimer and Islam needs reforming.”
Ms Crestani is a vociferous anti-mosque crusader in Casey.
Travel rorts
Ratepayers in 2018 forked out $45,000 as part of the China Engagement Strategy designed to strengthen Casey’s commercial, tourism and education links.
Former councillor Sam Aziz also splashed almost $18,000 of ratepayer funds on a six-day trip to New York last year.
He claimed $17,864 in expenses to attend the Digital Workforce Summit in May.
Councillors Gary Rowe and Timothy Jackson also attended, with Cr Rowe’s trip costing $11,750.
Two council staff attended at a total cost of $25,466.
In 2016, former councillor Wayne Smith racked up $15,649 in expenses, including $9517 in travel costs.
Casey Council director corporate services Sheena Frost said councillors attended the New York summit as part of their role in Casey Council’s Smart Cities Advisory Committee and several outcomes resulted from the trip, including “global relationships and partnerships”.
Ratepayers Victoria president Dean Hurlston slammed the move and said the group been calling on Minister Adem Somyurek to force councils to publish all expenditure of staff and councillors monthly on their websites.
And the 2020 sacking
In February this year, Casey Council was sacked and the next election postponed until 2024.
It came after the independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission began its inquiry into contentious planning decisions in Casey.
Former councillor Sam Aziz, who is at the centre of the hearing – which have been adjourned until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic – flew to Egypt late last year.
After Mr Aziz left the country IBAC held its explosive Operation Sandon public hearings, revealing developer John Woodman made $1.2 million in payments to Mr Aziz and councillor Geoff Ablett.
It was later revealed Mr Aziz had been working full-time teaching marketing management leadership at Bloom Business School in Cairo, while pocketing his $30,000 a year council salary before being sacked earlier this month.
The hearings also heard former councillor Amanda Stapledon approached developer John Woodman as part of her campaign to become mayor in 2018.
And in the last IBAC hearing on March 17, former councillor Rosalie Crestani broke down after revealing she “felt bullied at times” if she disagreed with certain individuals.
It was also revealed Casey Council’s chief executive Glenn Patterson admitted the council forked out $80,000 for Sam Aziz’s legal action against a resident who spoke about him on Facebook.
Mr Patterson said the council recouped $15,000 from the eventual settlement.