Minister slams Liverpool Council allegations as ‘worst I’ve ever seen’

Voters will go to the polls in Liverpool Council elections on September 14 after an eleventh-hour appeal and a flurry of negotiations led to the Minns government abandoning a push to defer the vote until after a public inquiry considered serious allegations of misconduct at the council.

Despite Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig threatening to suspend the council and delay the election after a legal victory in the Land & Environment Court on Monday, the government abruptly changed tack late on Thursday, declaring voting in Liverpool would proceed.

Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig said allegations at Liverpool Council were “the worst I’ve seen”.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

But freshly elected councillors will face a months-long public inquiry after a report released in mid-July detailed a list of serious allegations, described by Hoenig in budget estimates on Thursday as “the worst I’ve seen of any council”.

Liverpool Council challenged the interim report handed down by the Office of Local Government, arguing that Hoenig and departmental secretary Brett Whitworth had displayed bias in publishing the report and that the minister’s efforts to suspend the council and delay the election were unlawful.

In a comprehensive dismissal on Monday, Justice John Robson ruled that no apprehended or actual bias had been shown and that the government did not unduly influence the investigation. Just hours before the appeal period expired, the council’s acting chief executive, Jason Breton, emailed councillors to inform them he had appealed against the ruling.

He said he was “pleased to confirm” the election would proceed, adding the public inquiry would commence after the election.

In estimates earlier, Hoenig rattled off a list of allegations contained in the report, including bullying and sexual harassment, elected officials inappropriately interfering in development applications, nepotistic hiring processes, destruction of public records and bypassing procurement processes.

“The investigation ... raised very serious concerns that the issue of Liverpool went beyond the non-merit-based selection of staff,” he said.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

‘No confidence’ in chief executive

The decision by Breton to appeal prompted an open letter from three Liverpool councillors who said they had lost confidence in the acting chief executive “and his capacity to make decisions in the best interests of the Liverpool community”.

“The acting CEO has not consulted with all members of the elected body,” councillors Betty Green, Peter Harle and Charishma Kaliyanda wrote.

“No legal advice was provided to councillors, or resolution of the Council sought, before a unilateral decision was made by an unelected bureaucrat to lodge an appeal to the court decision handed down earlier this week.

“The only beneficiary of this action is [Mayor] Ned Mannoun, his ego and his political allies – not the ratepayers of Liverpool – in his refusal to accept the judgment of the Court.”

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