The Guardian 12 March, 2008
Wollongong sex and bribery inquiry:
disturbing findings
Peter Mac
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has made some initial findings in its continuing inquiry into corruption involving sex and bribery within Wollongong Council.
The scope of the inquiry has widened from matters involving the Council to the behaviour of the NSW government and even the state opposition.
The minister oozes back...
Last week the Commission found it did not have evidence to sustain an inquiry into the appointment of Joe Scimone, a former manager of Wollongong Council and a good friend of the Minister for Ports and Waterways, Joe Tripodi, to a top job in the Minister’s department.
The Commission declared it had found "no substantiation of an allegation that the Minister interfered in the merit selection procedures" for the appointment. The Commission noted that Tripodi was told of the appointment on December 14, but that the chief executive of the Department had not needed to seek the Minister’s approval, and indeed had not done so.
Liberal leader Barry O’Farrell has described this finding as a concern, because the Commission did not interview the Department’s staff before reaching its conclusions. At least one staff member has stated publicly — and bitterly — that applicants with years of experience had been bypassed in favour of Scimone, a total novice for the $200,000 per annum job.
Tripodi will continue as Minister, despite having been in charge when the decision was made to bring into his department a man who will probably be brought to court over his involvement in the bribery scandal, and who is already facing prosecution over allegations of sexual harassment brought against him by seven Wollongong Council officers.
So much for ministerial responsibility!
…and so does the local member
The Commission also decided that Noreen Hay, the State Member for Wollongong and Parliamentary Secretary for Health, was not a person of interest in the current inquiry, even though she has admitted that she agreed to seek the support of three ALP Councillors for a controversial Wollongong development proposal, and that she had subsequently accepted a rent-free office from the developer concerned.
Premier Morris Iemma stood Ms Hay down after these matters were revealed at the inquiry. However, after the inquiry found her not to be a "person of interest" he reinstated her, an action which implies that acceptance of such gifts from developers is entirely acceptable.
An open road for developers?
The Commission found that there was "systematic corruption" within the Council. However, rather than recommending the prosecution of the four persons whom the inquiry has identified as likely to be found guilty of corruption, the Commission recommended the sacking of the entire 13 councillors. The Iemma government immediately did so, and appointed a temporary administrator to run the Council.
This is another matter for concern. Such an administrator is surely accountable to the government which appointed him, a government which has placed near-dictatorial powers in the hands of the NSW Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, and which has thereby deprived NSW councils of the right to block major developments which would disadvantage local communities.
Moreover, if the duration of the administrator’s appointment extends beyond September, when Council elections are due, Wollongong ratepayers will have to wait four years for the opportunity to elect a new council which will act in their interests.
Heritage at risk
The alarm bells are now ringing over the Iemma government’s decision to all but obliterate the NSW Heritage Office and to "review" the NSW Heritage Act and the operations of the State’s Heritage Council.
The Executive Director of the National Trust (NSW) recently stated:
"Community concern is mounting over the marginalisation of heritage and our heritage laws. … the Planning Act now allows the Minister to switch off the Heritage Act. The proposed ‘streamlining’ of the planning system further threatens heritage protection.
"The cumulative effect of these changes on several fronts amounts to a crisis in heritage conservation. The places we hold dear may now be at risk. The situation is now urgent with the new planning legislation due to be passed in June …"
The Trust’s President commented:
"The Heritage Office has been emasculated with most of its staff relocated elsewhere in the Department and only a ‘core’ left to service the Heritage Council. This move reinforces the view that heritage is a very low priority for (state) government, being seen as the obstacle to development.
"Most notably, the Heritage Office has been sidelined under … the …planning legislation, which enables the Minister for Planning, Frank Sartor, to approve developments deemed ‘state significant’, overriding heritage and environmental policies and legislation."