Dr WOODRUFF question to MINISTER for LOCAL GOVERNMENT, Mr GUTWEIN
Councillor Michael Kent from Glamorgan Spring Bay Council is sitting on an Integrity Commission report into potentially dodgy council processes he was intimately involved in overseeing when he was the previous mayor. Councillor Kent has kept the Integrity Commission report under wraps since August, refusing to table it to the previous council. Now he will not hand it over to the new mayor. Do you agree these actions reveal his deep contempt for the independent Integrity Commission and all good governance processes? Do you share the Glamorgan Spring Bay community's alarm that a sitting councillor publicly continues to do whatever he can to obfuscate, undermine and ignore the Integrity Commission's findings?
The report allegedly details corrupted processes, with staff gaming the council's resources for personal advantage. You ordered an investigation into that council in 2015 because of a raft of improper processes. The former mayor, Mr Kent, clearly has not learnt contrition and does not appear to give a fig for the integrity of the new council. Will you step in and table this Integrity Commission report to parliament and end the ludicrous situation of a washed-up ex-mayor holding his ratepayers in contempt?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for that question. It is an extraordinary question and an attack on an individual under parliamentary privilege. As is right and proper, I do not have a copy of the report. I have not seen a copy of the report. Any matters of the Integrity Commission and Councillor Kent is a matter between him and the Integrity Commission.
This again demonstrates that the Greens are prepared to trash process. If I had a copy of the report and I was aware of what it in it, you would be claiming I should not have it, that it is not the appropriate process. I caution the Greens on utilising parliamentary privilege to attempt to trash the reputation of an individual in our community for their own political gain. That it all that is occurring here.
I want to be very clear on this: any matter between Councillor Kent and the Integrity Commission is a matter between him and the Integrity Commission. It is not for me to reach in, nor would it be proper for me to be aware of what is in that report.