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'Clean' councillors still angry at dismissal

10/10/2008 2:22:00 PM
Former Wollongong City councillors are relieved the Independent Commission Against Corruption's final report has been released.

Wednesday's report revealed unprecedented corruption for a NSW public sector organisation, spanning five levels of the council.

All together, the ICAC report made 24 corrupt conduct findings involving 10 people - council staff, developers and councillors - and recommended 139 criminal charges be considered against eight of those and an additional three people.

None of the former councillors were surprised by the report's contents, and several felt vindicated that their early suspicions about the dealings of those named in the report had been confirmed.

However, there was still lingering anger that councillors who had done nothing wrong were thrown out when the council was sacked.

Councillors were dismissed by former premier Morris Iemma in March on ICAC commissioner Jerrold Cripps' recommendation after 12 days of public hearings, which exposed scandal after scandal.

Carolyn Griffiths said the report was "reasonably thorough" but ICAC could have gone further.

"The terms of reference weren't wide enough," she said.

"I would like to see it go far wider and far deeper."

Ms Griffiths was pleased ICAC had recommended the council adopt a system similar to the one she suggested in 2005 to increase transparency in development application approvals.

Alice Cartan said she was glad the report was out.

"It's been hanging over all our heads since the end of the hearings," she said.

"I hope the (Director of Public Prosecutions) works fairly quickly to work out who should and shouldn't be (charged)."

While she was pleased with the work the council's administrators had done in the past six months, she believed she should not have been sacked.

"It would've been better for Wollongong city to just sack those named (by ICAC)," she said.

David Martin, who had made submissions to ICAC before the investigation began, said he was delighted with the report, which named 10 people as having engaged in corrupt conduct.

"I'm pleased that the actions of the (former) general manager have been recognised as contributing to the culture which allowed those events and this pattern of behaviour to occur," he said.

Janice Kershaw said she was glad the investigation had concluded so the council could begin to implement reforms but was still angry about her sacking.

"It certainly wasn't the way that you want to go, by being dismissed by the Government over actions you had nothing to do with," she said.

David Brown said the report also reinforced the feelings of anger and betrayal he experienced during the public hearings earlier this year.

"Some of the activities of the corrupt people were just breathtaking," he said.

Andrew Anthony said he felt vindicated by the findings as he too had worked to expose the abuse of some planning instruments.

"I felt fairly mixed emotions," he said. "It had a big impact on me."

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Good on you all, and especially Dave Martin on his comments.
Posted by Alan Bond on 10/10/2008 4:47:37 PM
How many of these 'clean' councillors were awake to what was going on? It seems to me that the majority of the 700,000 ratepayers were also asleep that no one else noticed what was going on...me included. Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery, so let's handle today.
Posted by Fergie on 13/10/2008 10:10:59 AM
At a Local Area Meeting, Dave Martin and Alice Cartan were questioned on what they knew.

Dave had suspicions but no evidence nor the resources that ICAC had for surveillance. They all had their own jobs to do during the daytime.

There was only one communal place in Council for Councillors and they mainly only ever saw each other at Council meetings.

Andrew Anthony sent stuff to ICAC as well as Dave, yet, initially got nowhere. Despite what they say on their website, ICAC will only investigate where there is hard evidence of money changing hands.


Posted by Alan Bond on 15/10/2008 7:01:04 AM

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The Wollongong City Council chamber stands empty. The sacked council has been replaced by three state-appointed administrators.
The Wollongong City Council chamber stands empty. The sacked council has been replaced by three state-appointed administrators.

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