Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Mathew HILAKARI (Point Cook) (10:38): You know of my interest in local government, and I will be speaking on the Inquiry intoFraud and Corruption Control in Local Government: A Follow up of Two Auditor-General Reports. I think this is maybe the fourth time you will remember that I have got up to speak on this particular report because of its importance to the community that I represent. I speak particularly in reference to Wyndham council, which was one of the subjects of this inquiry. As you would know, there have been two monitors appointed by the Minister for Local Government, Jim Gifford and Jo-Anne Mazzeo, both of whom have expertise in the local government area, Mr Gifford recently as a local government expert and acting as the commissioner on the Whittlesea commission of inquiry and Ms Mazzeo with extensive experience across councillor conduct meetings. The focus of the monitors to be appointed in Wyndham is on the service delivery, the culture, staff wellbeing, procedures and decision-making.

Part of the reason that we had the inquiry into fraud and corruption in local government, which was a follow-up of those two Auditor-General reports, was because, in my view, I have got some deep dissatisfaction with local government in the community that I represent. Both the local government areas are actually under monitors at the moment, which is very challenging; it is challenging for that trust in local government. This trust is not improved when local government does not hear as well what the state government is putting forward when it comes to monitors.

Moments after the monitors were appointed Wyndham City Council’s website had a statement from the councillors, which was welcoming the minister’s announcement appointing a monitor to the City of Wyndham. What they described was:

…not an issue of Governance, it is a case of one Councillor putting their interests above those of the Council and Wyndham residents.

That might be true that one councillor has done so, and I encourage that mayor, appointed and voted on by those Wyndham councillors, to consider his position, and in my view he should resign. But having said that, the monitors were not appointed to Wyndham City Council because of, in their view, one bad apple. They were appointed because of significant issues related to the governance going on at the council and how they are managing the important ratepayers money in the community.

I will take us to case study 5.2 from the report, which is ‘Wyndham city information and technology services project illustrates problems that arise in the absence of minimum standards for public reporting’. Why was this a problem? It was a problem because in 2018 Wyndham City Council invested $19 million in an IT project – very normal to do so. The project was meant to finish up in two years. Four years into the project, with an unknown quantity of money spent on it – my understanding is closer to $40 million was spent on it – they cancelled the project, and then they appointed a new IT provider to undertake those services. What we found out in those committee hearings is that when those contracts were cancelled, there was no real public reporting of it. There was no accountability around what finances – that is, ratepayers money – was being spent on these IT projects. It is not unusual, I dare say, that IT projects do run over cost. That is not an unusual thing. We hope that they do not. We should put in the systems and the processes to ensure that they do not, but sometimes they do. But it is unacceptable that the public cannot find out about that – that ratepayers cannot find out about that.

Repeatedly, when asked, Wyndham council was unable to provide this information to the public, to the ratepayers of Wyndham. They had the opportunity through multiple annual reports. They had their opportunity through multiple budget processes. They had the opportunity, like they did for a media statement online around the monitors, to put it into the public domain in so many ways, and yet they declined to do so. They declined to do so when asked by the parliamentary committee. So is the failing one bad apple? I would say no. There is a failing of culture, of governance. Wyndham council too often do things in private, outside the public eye. Too many decisions are made that way. I for one welcome the monitors at Wyndham City Council. It is important that they undertake their tasks. It is important also that members working within Wyndham City Council and others who have knowledge of the affairs there disclose those to the monitors. It is important to do so, so we can clean up this city council and get a better outcome for the communities in the south-west of Melbourne.