In a fiery public forum, Shellharbour MP Anna Watson said there was a "perceived lack of integrity" at Shellharbour Council.
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But Mayor Chris Homer there was "absolutely no basis" to her claims.
Ms Watson was meant to be speaking on the specific agenda item relating to the adoption of integrated planning documents.
However, in a speech where Mayor Chris Homer repeatedly tried to return her to that motion, she raised questions about the council's performance.
"I do have concerns, as do some community members who continue to lobby me and approach me about reports like this one tonight that may have been compromised or in breach of the Local Government Act," Ms Watson said.
"There seems to be a lack of trust due to a lack of integrity, or a perceived lack of integrity."
She also complained that council was spending too much time deciding things in confidential session.
"It appears to myself and many others that this council is spending a lot of time in closed session," she said.
"This fosters the perception that there is something to hide and the core values of this council are not being adhered to."
However, in the business papers for the nine meetings so far this year, council has only gone into closed session three times.
These include a June 7 discussion on land for the proposed Shellharbour Hospital and a March 22 discussion on land acquisition at Calderwood.
When Ms Watson's time had expired, Cr Homer drew a line under the speech.
Cr Rob Petreski proposed to allow Ms Watson and extra two minutes, which Cr Homer rejected, saying "I'm fine".
Speaking after the public forum, Cr Homer was still scratching his head about Ms Watson's motives.
"It seems that she really never wanted to speak on the item that she was supposed to speak on," Cr Homer said.
"She kept trying to veer away and talk on some integrity issue or transparency issue, which I've still got no idea what she's referring to, to be honest.
"There's absolutely no basis to a perceived lack of integrity.
"I still don't know what Ms Watson was at that public address for."
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