Perth City Council dysfunction laid bare
Greed, dysfunction and self-interest were entrenched for years in the now suspended council that governs the heart of Perth, a report has found.
Greed, dysfunction and self-interest were entrenched for years in the now suspended council that governs the heart of Perth, a report has found.
The council oversees Western Australia’s premier shopping and restaurant district, the headquarters of global resource companies and a number of luxury waterfront apartment buildings.
Councillors and candidates used sham leases to become eligible to stand for election, and it was common for councillors not to disclose their financial interests, according to the 2000-page investigation, which was tabled in the WA parliament on Tuesday.
The report’s author, Tony Power, is a lawyer who has reported several people and at least one organisation for investigation during the inquiry.
So far, one former Perth councillor is facing court over alleged false claims, and three other former councillors and two former council staff are under investigation by police.
The council has been suspended since March 2018, when WA Local Government Minister David Templeman stepped in, citing an untenable situation and serious governance issues.
By then, Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi had been suspended and cleared to resume her official duties in a long-running dispute over gifts, including a $36,000 trip to the Beijing Olympics funded by BHP.
But Ms Scaffidi’s battle in the State Administrative Tribunal and the Supreme Court was only one of the dramas that played out on the council in recent years.
The infighting at the City of Perth was so bad that at one point the council burned through three chief executives in a month.
“Regrettably, the culture of the city has been characterised by self-interest, complacency, lack of accountability, lack of transparency and a lack of effective leadership,” the report states.
“These traits have provided fertile ground for greed, incompetence and mismanagement to flourish.”
The report citing poor decision making and leadership inside the council comes just two months before the City of Perth’s next election.
Media personality and AFL caller Basil Zempilas. who has never served on the council, is the highest-profile candidate for lord mayor.
Mr Power’s report makes clear the new council will come to power after a sorry chapter.
Hypocrisy, bad taste and other follies of 2024
On New Year’s Day 2024, morale was relatively high since the Year of the Dragon was expected to usher in a time of rational thinking. Not quite how it worked out.
Dutton nuclear plan ‘economic madness’
Jim Chalmers has fired the first salvo in what is likely to be a sustained campaign of economic attacks by Labor on Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan, to be driven by the Treasurer himself.