Rival Ryde Mayor requests council investigation of Labor’s Bennelong candidate

The Ryde Mayor has asked for a probe into his predecessor over a vote awarding grant money to his now-partner’s charity, but the request has been slammed as a “grubby smear campaign”.

The Mayor of Ryde has asked his council’s general manager to launch a formal investigation into former mayor and current Labor candidate for Bennelong Jerome Laxale over the council’s unanimous vote to give his partner Jo Taranto’s volunteer organisation a several thousand dollar grant on his watch.

The Daily Telegraph is not suggesting that Mr Laxale acted improperly in the awarding of any grants or awards or that there was any conflict of interest.

5 for Ryde is a local community environmental charity devoted to sustainability and cutting plastic waste which was also named Ryde Council’s Volunteer Group of the Year in 2018.

It is headed by Ms Taranto, a television presenter and environmental campaigner with whom Mr Laxale is understood to be partnered and living together with at a North Ryde address that is also that of 5 for Ryde’s headquarters.

On the website of grassroots community organising group Good for the Hood, Ms Taranto is described as “an expert contributor on topics including waste, sustainability, and climate change” who “appears regularly at conferences and online events, and across numerous media outlets and digital channels.”

Labor candidate for Bennelong Jerome Laxale was the mayor of Ryde at the time Jo Taranto received council grant funding. She is now living with Mr Laxale. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Ms Taranto’s 5 for Ryde group has also received a number of small grants including $3,500 in funding which was unanimously approved in a Council meeting at which Mr Laxale was present.

Previously Ms Taranto was placed on an “expert judging panel” for a local Ryde Council art prize and reportedly helped with Mr Laxale’s 2019 campaign for state parliament.

Left to Right: Then Ryde Mayor Jerome Laxale, now-partner Jo Taranto and John Boyle at Bundara reserve in North Ryde in 2018. Picture: Adam Yip / Manly Daily

In 2018, 5 for Ryde and Mr Laxale joined a campaign to stop a pedestrian bridge over Delhi Road and the M2 motorway which they claimed would devastate local bushland.

Council sources say that Ms Taranto has been a regular at various council events for a number of years and had been brought in to provide “pertinent advice”, though there is no suggestion that she was romantically linked to Mr Laxale at the time.

Mr Laxale is also a strong proponent of a federal ICAC and recently appeared on a Facebook town hall with shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus to promote the proposed anti-corruption body.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese met with his Bennelong candidate for a coffee on April 21. Picture: Toby Zerna

“I have asked the general manager of the Council to investigate the process by which this grant was administered,” said current Ryde mayor Jordan Lane.

“It is important to find out if any policy changes need to be made to protect the community grants process.”

A Labor spokesman slammed the investigation.

“This is a grubby smear campaign being pushed by the Liberal Party about the personal and family life of the Labor candidate for Bennelong,” he said.

“Jerome is focused on fighting for Bennelong while his opponent is more interested in undermining the work of frontline health workers on vaccines and mandates.”

Originally published as Rival Ryde Mayor requests council investigation of Labor’s Bennelong candidate