Councils urged to read damning report on Boddington Shire

29/9/94

Local Government Minister Paul Omodei has urged all councils in Western Australia to read a damning report tabled in State Parliament today which catalogues the almost complete breakdown in local government which occurred in the Boddington Shire.

After reading the report, councils should take all steps necessary to ensure they were never vulnerable in the way the Shire of Boddington had been, Mr Omodei said.

The Boddington report, prepared by Perth Barrister Peter Kyle, covered events at Boddington, 120 kilometres south-east of Perth, from mid-1989 to about May 1993.

Mr Kyle was appointed to conduct a formal inquiry into the council after preliminary investigations by the Department of Local Government indicated severe problems.

Mr Omodei told Parliament today the resulting report catalogued "a series of failures on the part of both councillors and council officers".

In tabling the report, the Minister said he drew no satisfaction, knowing that it may be used to reflect adversely on local government generally in Western Australia.

However, he said he believed the report was a vital document for all councils to demonstrate how vulnerable a council could be, and how quickly it could lose public confidence when badly administered.

Mr Omodei said the original report prepared by Mr Kyle was submitted to him in May this year.

"That report contained material which was considered by the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Crown Solicitor's Office to be prejudicial to the fair trial of persons who may be prosecuted. Accordingly, I have had the report amended. These amendments in no way reduce the veracity or importance of the report," he told Parliament.

In relation to former shire clerk Jennifer Barnes and former environmental health officer/building surveyor John Chamberlain, the report says "the association between Barnes and Chamberlain is a crucial factor that pervaded the entire administration of the Shire during the period covered by the inquiry and is central to the issues raised."

It says:  "The circumstances of Chamberlain's initial appointment as a consultant to the Council in respect of the swimming pool project commenced a history of intrigue between two people who held positions of trust and authority with the Shire".

At the same time, the report states that "the councillors exhibited a quite naive acceptance of many things that were patently wrong ... this was at the very least, negligence on the part of the councillors".

"It was quite apparent that some councillors, if not all, were oblivious to the most fundamental rules governing their activities and that of the council staff," it states.

Mr Omodei told Parliament the report identified about 160 offences, half of which could not now be prosecuted as they were committed some time ago and were outside the time limit for prosecutions prescribed in both the Health and Local Government Acts.

He said the Department of Local Government was pursuing remaining breaches of the Local Government Act which had not lapsed because of the statutory limit.

He said 33 of the offences relate to breaches of the Criminal Code, which were not subject to the same time constraints. The entire report had been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr Omodei said considerable change had occurred at Boddington Council since the investigations, including an almost complete turnover of staff and the implementation by the council of many new checks and balances.

A recent full statutory compliance audit indicated substantial progress had been made in remedying deficiencies.

On a more general level, considerable work had been done by the Government to educate local government about its roles and responsibilities.

The establishment of a Local Government Professional Development Committee had greatly assisted councillors and senior staff with initiatives including training seminars and the provision of councillor handbooks and other publications.

A special Chief Executive Officers support scheme had also been jointly developed by the Department of Local Government and the Institute of Municipal Management to assist town and shire clerks appointed to the CEO position for the first time.

In addition, the new Local Government Act would include a number of new measures to improve accountability and community participation in local government.

In particular, councils would be required to hold open committee meetings, to prepare annual reports and forward plans and to maintain a pecuniary interests register.  There would also be a clear definition of the role and responsibilities of councils and chief executive officers, with this important partnership strengthened by the establishment of a Principal Accounting Officer, who would be responsible for the management of a council's finances.

Media contact:  Amanda O'Brien on (09) 222 9595