Shellharbour City councillor John Murray has accused fellow councillor Peter Moran of a breach of confidentiality, confirming he has made a code of conduct complaint against him.
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Cr Murray outlined his case to fellow councillors after a confidential discussion on Tuesday night when the council agreed to move ahead with the sale of a multimillion-dollar parcel of land at Tullimbar.
Cr Moran was absent from the meeting.
Cr Murray said the breach occurred after the September 30 meeting, when Cr Moran told the Lake Times he was "perturbed" to find out a prediction he made earlier this year regarding the potential sale of Benson Basin would come to fruition.
In July, Cr Moran expressed fears the council would include Benson Basin in the potential sale of council's administration building Lamerton House, after the land was rezoned operational. Sale proceeds will help fund the $57 million City Hub project.
In a heated exchange, during which Cr Kellie Marsh had her microphone switched off by Mayor Marianne Saliba six times, Cr Marsh questioned the relevance of Cr Murray's comments being made during a discussion of the Tullimbar land sale.
"I don't need to be lectured on confidentiality by Cr Murray," Cr Marsh said.
In reply, Cr Saliba said "we have had a situation where confidential information has been leaked", but the mayor declined to comment further except to say "there is no alleged anything when you read about it in the press".
Cr Murray said councillors were there to represent the whole city.
"Council makes decisions on a majority. It is a democracy - not everyone wins everything - but our individual responsibility is to accept that and work within that," Cr Murray said.
"Cr Moran is against the City Hub - we are all for and against different issues we feel passionate about - however there is still a process to go through . . ."
Cr Murray said negotiations between Stockland and the council over the parcel of land at Benson Basin, under council rules, should be kept confidential "whether you like it or not".
"Cr Moran demands a level of accountability from everyone. What I am saying is that is fine but how about you live up to what you demand from everyone else," Cr Murray said.
"The hub is a good deal for the city if all the ducks line up in the financing - we get what we need at a good price by doing financial deals to make it work. Defeating the hub is what Peter wants but that isn't in the best interests of the city. Even if he is successful, it is not a win for the city, we go back to square one, we still need the infrastructure."
Cr Moran said: "It speaks volumes about the ALP councillors that they are prepared to use these type of complaints to ensure that the community is kept in the dark about the sale of public assets.
"The community has never been asked if we wish to sell all or part of Benson Basin," he said.
"My prediction that all or part of Benson Basin would be sold was made without the benefit of confidential information.
"If it comes to pass that all or part of this land is to be sold, it will be a disgraceful deception of the community by the ALP and those senior council staff who are prepared to do anything and pay any cost to see this [City Hub] project proceed."
