A vote to establish independent inquiries into council’s asbestos issues and into allegations over staff appointments was taken behind closed doors last week.
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Members of the public were excluded from council’s consideration of the inquiries and of who to appoint as second acting general manager after the previous one – Stuart Liddell – stood down.
The only information available about the mayoral minutes discussed was their broad subject matter. “Independent review into asbestos allegations” and “Independent review into publicly made allegations – staff appointments.”
The second investigation is understood to relate to matters raised on 2GB by Ray Hadley but no further details have been released. A council spokeswoman said as the matters were heard in confidential session, the terms of reference for the two inquiries are also confidential.
When the Gazette asked why the chamber had been closed, the spokeswoman said the reports contained advice concerning litigation or advice that would otherwise be privileged on the grounds of legal professional privilege.
The other mayoral minutes – about appointing a new acting general manager – were held in confidence because discussion involved personal matters about particular individuals.
Greens Cr Kerry Brown said she argued for the matters to be heard in public.
“There was no need to move into confidential session. We weren't debating the detail of these allegations, only whether council should hold investigations and the terms of reference.
“Council has delegated the entire management of the inquiry to council’s solicitor and claimed legal privilege as a reason for excluding the public from discussion. The upshot is that these inquiries are likely to be mired in secrecy now.”
Cr Brown said she believed the terms of reference for the investigations should be posted on council’s website “so that the public can know precisely what council is doing and there can be no ongoing questions of cover up”.
She said council should try to be transparent but her motion for an open session was defeated with only the two Greens councillors in support.
Council’s spokeswoman said: “With regard to the investigation into staff recruitment, the council is actively taking steps to notify both the Office of Local Government and ICAC of the allegations and the process that the council proposes to address these allegations.”
The new acting general manager replacing Mr Liddell, who stood down pending the investigations, is Rosemary Dillon, council’s group manager, integrated planning and finance.