With the Mayor on thin ice, could Cr Sycopoulis pull off a “Bradbury?
Cr Peter Sycopoulis has had a dream run since rejoining the W’bool City Council in March and is now positioned to do a “Bradbury” if the mayoralty becomes vacant. Original image: Getty Images.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Is this our next Mayor? Could Cr Peter Sycopoulis be on the brink of doing a Bradbury?*
Since rejoining the W’bool City Council in March on the back of preferences redistributed after the resignation of Cr Peter Hulin, Cr Sycopoulis is having something of a dream run.
He was among those who argued for years to have council meetings live-streamed.
“Too hard!” they cried.
He was also among those who argued for extended free parking in the CBD.
“No way!” they cried.
Both were considered unthinkable, until the unthinkable happened with the C-19 virus. The last (special) council meeting was live-streamed, without incident, at which free parking in the CBD until the end of June was agreed to unanimously.
Cr Sycopoulis was shaking his head at the irony.
And now Cr Sycopoulis is, in my view, the only person left standing for the role of Mayor, should it become vacant in the very near future – as it should – due to the mounting pressure on Mayor Tony Herbert to step aside.
Cr Sycopoulis and I, politically, are miles apart, but I admire his community spirit and his working class roots and there is no doubt he has a deep care for Warrnambool.
Cr Sue Cassidy is champing at the bit for the role, of course, having been subjected to what Cr Herbert so eloquently described as a “c..t act” last year when she thought she had the numbers, then didn’t.
She still doesn’t, in fact with Cr Hulin’s departure, Cr Cassidy has one less.
I once thought Cr Cassidy would be a reasonable choice for the job, but having watched closely what has unfolded at Lyndoch Living – where Cr Cassidy is on the board – in response to ongoing claims of terrible bullying and intimidation against staff, and the shutting out of the community, I no longer hold that view.
Crs Mike Neoh, Kylie Gaston and Robert Anderson….recycle, recycle…
Cr David Owen would be in contention, but for health issues that are far more important, which leaves Cr Peter “Bradbury” Sycopoulis, skating past the finish line.
Who would have thought? But then nothing is unthinkable in these times and with Cr Herbert now on thin ice, Cr Sycopoulis could well be leading our city for the next six months until the election.
* Australian speed skater Steven Bradbury won an unlikely gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics after all of the other competitors fell before the finish line.
Brain fade: W’bool Mayor Tony Herbert breaches C-19 laws
Mayor Tony Herbert was seen drinking a beer with three others at the bottom end of Liebig St just hours after his video message on the importance of social distancing. Image supplied.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Why, oh why? Why would our Mayor Tony Herbert sit out in Liebig St on Tuesday night (7/4) with three other people, drinking a beer, breaking the Covid-19 laws now in place?
This photo was taken last Tuesday night around 9pm and that, by the way, is the official mayoral car parked facing the wrong way, but we will leave that to one side, because the bigger issue here is a complete lack of judgment and, I hate to say it, a sense that what rules apply to some, don’t apply to others.
I didn’t want to ruin our Mayor’s Easter – I had plans for a quiet day today – but our civic leaders need to be accountable.
The Mayor’s decision to visit traders and have a beer has become a test of whether the social distancing laws apply to all. Image: supplied
So I asked Cr Herbert why he was out drinking a beer on what I initially thought was a Wednesday night, after the WCC emergency meeting. He said he wasn’t out, but went home straight after the meeting, feeling unwell.
I then learned the photo was from Tues night, not Wed. I contacted the Mayor again. This time Cr Herbert agreed that yes, he was out, and below is his reply in full. I read it, digested it, and could only come back around to the same conclusion: this is so wrong.
Other leaders both in Australia (NSW Arts Minister Don Harwin resigned 5 minutes ago) and internationally have fallen on their swords for failing to follow the Covid-19 laws.
I have no idea what, if anything, will happen to Cr Herbert but boy, I am still staggered by his thinking that this was okay. It is not okay.
Cr Herbert’s reply in full:
“On Tuesday night, I left home to buy some items at the supermarket.
On the way, I drove along Liebig Street to see how businesses still open in the southern block, the dining precinct, were faring.
There, I had a chance, unplanned encounter with two business owners.
We had an emotional and refreshingly optimistic conversation. We stood metres apart from each other with the exception of a brief moment when one of the business owners passed me a beer. After a short time I left for the supermarket.
The job of being mayor doesn’t ever stop. I considered it part of my role to see for myself how our city is faring in difficult times. This is something I do regularly.
The decision to drive along Liebig Street I viewed as mayoral duty, so too the conversations I had with the business owners.
I can’t rely on social media alone for insights into how our city is travelling. It is important for any mayor, where reasonable and safe to do so, to find out first-hand about the state of the city.
Of course with the threat of COVID-19 ever-present, we need to be vigilant as we go about our work and my work has changed accordingly.
But, we also need to be mindful that our focus on safe behaviour does not morph into an ugly vigilantism.
In our conversations and online commentary I believe we need to be encouraging and supportive, not vindictive or constantly seeking to blame and shame.
After my purchase at the supermarket, I returned home to continue a board game with my family.
If you wish, I can provide a bank statement of the supermarket purchase.
Regards, Tony. “
Blue-chip whistleblower goes public on WCC fraud inquiry
Those attempting to blow the whistle on alleged corruption, fraud and bullying within the Warrnambool City Council have found themselves targeted for investigation. Image: The Shift.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
A blue-chip whistleblower on allegations of fraud, corruption and bullying within the Warrnambool City Council has gone public and, in so doing, exposed how broken the system has become.
Dr Bernadette Northeast, who has the sort of credentials and governance experience that most councils would grab with both hands, recently resigned as Volunteer Coordinator from the WCC, having been shafted by the very process meant to encourage people to speak up.
Boy, we live in dark times when this is considered acceptable.
Dr Northeast told me she had compiled a dossier of evidence with the input of six other people – each of whom initially approached her – detailing serious claims of fraud, corruption and bullying within certain sections of council. #notallstaff
The whistleblowers not only detailed claims of wrong doing, but alleged particular senior council staff were fully aware of the allegations and did nothing.
In other words, there was a deliberate cover up.
If you were an investigator looking into a council, this sort of stuff is red hot.
Dr Northeast and five of the six other whistleblowers all spoke to the independent investigator hired by the council CEO Peter Schneider to get to the bottom of the scandal, but despite this incredibly brave step, they have heard nothing since.
In the meantime, wait for it, Dr Northeast was put under investigation by the same independent investigator.
Her “crime” was accessing documents she used as part of her evidence gathering, for which she found herself accused of serious gross misconduct.
This is despite the documents apparently being accessible to any council staff member via the intranet.
Dr Northeast, who worked for the council for seven years, was put on paid leave during the investigation, after which she resigned for another job.
Mis-use of council corporate credit cards by some senior staff on dinners and drinks sparked an independent investigation by the WCC. Image: Winestock.
During the investigation of Dr Northeast’s conduct and in the months since, she says, there has been no significant action as a result of the whistleblowers coming forward.
Each person identified by the whistleblowers, apart from former tourism chief David McMahon, has remained in their job.
As Dr Northeast says, it appears the investigation has been less focussed on the claims of fraud, corruption and bullying that were allegedly reported to senior staff, and more intent on finding out “who dobbed on us?”
By the way, the allegations not only include the now infamous misuse and abuse of some council corporate credit cards, but also claims of misuse of council accommodation at Flagstaff Hill, misuse of council contracts, purchase of equipment (including air conditioning units) which cannot be traced, and large alcohol purchases via direct invoice.
The whistleblowers also raised concerns about a personal relationship between two council staff members that allegedly led to “tip offs” about the focus of some Freedom of Information applications.
Others expressed their concern at a “boozy” boys’ club culture, summed up by a toga party held at the house of a senior staff member, to which select staff were invited and attended, and talked about for days.
This cosy boys’ club culture is what the vast majority of hard-working and ethical staff at WCC have been struggling with for years.
It reminds me of the WCC Christmas party at the Warrnambool racecourse last year, where two employees dropped their pants and ran naked past the finish line in what was apparently some sort of weird WCC tradition. It wasn’t repeated this year.
Warrnambool City Council CEO Peter Schneider. Image: WCC.
This sense of entitlement among certain parts of council is what we believed Mr Schneider would blow right open and, to do so, Dr Northeast is exactly the sort of person he should be listening to.
Her CV includes 17 years as an SES volunteer, a Director of South West Healthcare, Chair of Australian Institute of Company Directors Great South Coast Committee, and Deputy Chair of the Victorian Fisheries Authority. Good governance is her bent.
Yet Mr Schneider has not spoken to Dr Northeast about any of these allegations.
Mayor Tony Herbert, who has previously urged staff with any allegations to contact Mr Schneider, apparently told Dr Northeast that he would arrange a meeting with the CEO. She didn’t hear another word. (I have asked Cr Herbert to confirm this).
Dr Northeast then attempted to set up a meeting with Mr Schneider herself, without success, and says even now she remains open to a frank conversation with the CEO.
But Dr Northeast is no longer with the council, having been effectively the target of a concerted push to find any leakers.
A couple of other staff are also on unexplained leave, for what I believe are similar misconduct allegations connected to them attempting to reveal what is going on, not to hide it.
Other experienced staff have resigned in sheer frustration while waiting for a cultural change that never seems to come.
If this is how it works at the WCC, something is terribly broken.
This gets to the nub of why Dr Northeast has gone public, because she says the vast majority of council staff who are hard-working, ethical and honest people, are being unfairly maligned by the alleged actions of a few.
“For the sake of the vast majority of all the good people working at the council, this needs to be addressed promptly and openly. Yet we have heard nothing more,” she says.
“How long does this have to go on without direct rectification?”
It is a very good question and here are three more:
Where is the independent investigation up to?
Has the information from Dr Northeast and the six whistleblowers all been passed to the Ombudsman for her separate investigation?
And does the council even still have 81 corporate credit cards in action?
I am putting all of this to Mr Schneider for a response which I will run in full.
I have set up a Foxy Fighting Fund. If you would like to be make a small contribution, you can do so below.
Is Lyndoch Living stitching up a deal for Scoborio Reserve?
Part of the Scoborio Reserve public land that fronts the Hopkins River and sits next to Lyndoch.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
My team of trusty terriers tell me Lyndoch Living is stitching up a deal with the Warrnambool City Council to take over a piece of prime public land: the Scoborio Reserve on the Hopkins River.
Scoborio Reserve sits off Hopkins-Otway Road between Lyndoch and Proudfoot’s Boathouse, part of the Peek Whurrong lands, and covers almost 3 ha of prime waterfront real estate.
The elected councillors have also not had any recent briefings about the proposal.
Despite this, I have now had three good sources tell me that, behind the scenes, discussions between Lyndoch Living, the WCC officers and Mayor Herbert are well advanced and that a formal proposal is being put together.
Cr Sue Cassidy is on the Lyndoch board, so I can only assume that she would also be well across any Lyndoch plans to expand into public space.
The council’s City Growth Manager Andrew Paton is also on the Lyndoch board.
The official line from the council today is that “council has not received any formal request from Lyndoch Living in relation to acquiring any part of Scoborio Reserve”.
Read that sentence very carefully.
“Any formal request” does not rule it out. It just means that it is not in writing, yet.
In fact what happens these days with so many council decisions is that deals are all stitched up behind closed doors and we, the public, are left to play catch up.
Instead of being included in the process from the start, we are left to fight it at the end.
There are six things that make me think this Lyndoch deal is real:
the sudden desire by the WCC to formally name the unnamed road that services the Scoborio Reserve. This could be a coincidence, of course;
the council also saying it received a suggestion (from who?) that the road be named after George Rolfe, who once owned the Lyndoch land;
suggestions that Lyndoch has been interested in building a childcare centre next door to the aged care home;
that this centre would be run by a private operator;
Cr Herbert’s belief that the council should not be in the business of running childcare centres and they should be privatised;
that the council is now in the business of trying to sell off public spaces: just ask the good people of Swan St, who this year had to put up a fight to save their patch of green space.
The word “public” is fast losing its meaning in Warrnambool.
This is public land. It is a reserve. It should not be for sale, “gifted”, or given away for virtually nothing.
We are watching.
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WCC suffers mortal wound in Mayoral election bloodbath
Cr Kylie Gaston watches on as Cr Peter Hulin explains why the councillors deserve to be sacked. Image: Annie Cairn Terrier.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
The Fallout: Oh, if looks could kill.
How on earth does the W’bool City Council come back from the Mayoral showdown?
On Monday night there were more knives out than an episode of Masterchef; more blood on the floor than the Red Wedding, if thankfully of the invisible variety.
(If you missed the audio, it is a must listen. You can find it on the WCC website).
The truth is, it can’t recover.
You can’t un-say that someone betrayed you, that you were set up, that you were manipulated, or that the place is run by two political wolves in Crs Gaston and Neoh who urge you stick with them, then eat you up for breakfast.
You can’t un-say, as our Mayor elect did in a phone call, that you did a c*** act.
So here we are, right back to square one after three years, with a council split right down the middle.
For the council to keep blaming the media for eating its own head off is ludicrous.
This is a shambles all of their own making and it’s the natural outcome of backstabbing, disloyalty, power plays…and an obsession with control.
It is the sort of political bastardy that might happen when you are running for state politics, but it doesn’t wash here.
So the council will limp along with one arm and half a leg, like the Black Knight from Monty Python’s Holy Grail (“a mere flesh wound, sire”), until we get to the next election.
That election is 12 months away, but the search for fresh candidates must start now.
Who would you like to see re-elected? And who do you know who should be there? Your time starts now. #election2020
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