Kangaroo Island Council

Mr PENGILLY (Finniss) (16:53): I rise, not with any great deal of pleasure, in fact with no pleasure whatsoever. I never thought I would have to stand in here and raise the matter of Kangaroo Island Council again—I was hoping I would not have to. However, for seven or eight years now it has been in a fair bit of a mess, and this week it has fallen to a new level of mess, as portrayed in InDaily earlier this week, where the headline was, 'Kangaroo Island council land deal unlawful: Ombudsman'.

It went on to talk at length about the council's actions in relation to a project at American River in relation to the Rebuild Independence Group, and I have no problem with them whatsoever—they are a great group and I am supportive of what they want to do. It was in relation to a piece of land. The council since has been trying to duck and weave and offer distractions, to the extent that the CEO, Mr Andrew Boardman, as part of his contribution to InDaily, actually admits that it was his fault, so to his credit he says that. However, he refers to RIG as a distraction from their own absolute mess.

The Minister for Local Government has to act on this. There have been four years of tyrannical rule at that council by the current chief executive officer. Unfortunately, what has happened now is that on Tuesday at their council meeting, in item 15.2, there was a report from the Ombudsman. That Ombudsman's report brought on a motion from councillor Ken Liu, which was seconded:

1. That the report be received for information

2. That the CEO be directed to obtain legal advice whether:

(a) The infrastructure grant given to RIG is legal; and

(b) The lease of community land for the group is in fact valid.

That is fine. That motion actually went down 1 for and 6 against. The CEO and the mayor, who were complicit in this whole debacle, did not declare a conflict of interest. They did not leave the room. They stayed in the chamber while this was discussed. That alone is a great breach of the way things should happen. They should never have stayed there. Furthermore, in my view, it has got a lot worse. The Ombudsman found that:

The council has also acknowledged that its failure to have the land excluded as community land has had the effect of the council failing to comply with the provisions of sections 196(1) and 202 of the Local Government Act.

The Ombudsman says:

In my opinion the council did not undertake any public consultation as envisaged by the Local Government Act before granting the lease to RIG. This failure resulted in there being no consultation with rate payers in relation to the intended use of the land as required by section 202.

One of the great reasons this has all fallen over and there is such a catastrophic mess with the Kangaroo Island Council is an inexperienced CEO who will not listen to anyone and who has bullied and cajoled councillors, both past and present, to the extent that one councillor has already left. The mayor seems unable to control the CEO. The CEO has the councillors in his pocket, so to speak, that is, in a bullying manner. The CEO is inexperienced and, unfortunately, just last financial year alone—I think my figures are correct—spent $235,000 on legal advice. Compare that with Victor Harbour council which spent just over $40,000 on legal advice.

I am here to speak on behalf of my ratepayers, many of whom would like to be able to say what I am saying in here, but are too scared to for fear of legal action. I am here on behalf of my constituents. Within the elected members of that council there are some very good people who are not game to speak up for fear of being bullied. In the CEO's time there, my understanding is that 33 staff have disappeared for various reasons. There are outstanding defamation cases against the mayor and the CEO currently which may or may not go to court, I am told. It is simply not good enough. The bullying and the intimidation are ongoing at senior management level.

As far as I am concerned, the Minister for Local Government has no choice but to put an administrator into that council and have it sorted out once and for all. That administrator, in my view, should come from interstate and should not be a South Australian. We are just far too close to each other in this state on seemingly everything to do with local government and a number of other things as well. It needs sorting out. There are, as I said, some very good elected members. Unfortunately, in the event of an administrator, they would have to be removed.

I challenge the local government minister to put somebody in there and have a complete review into the operation of this council and the amount of money that is being spent on this, that and everything else, particularly legal costs. They should be able to speak to staff members, both present and past staff members, in a confidential manner and find out just what has been going on. It is not good enough. That has been a wonderful council over many years, but unfortunately with this current CEO and the last CEO there has been too much bullying and intimidation, and it is not in the best interests of the people of Kangaroo Island.

I stand here with no pleasure whatsoever but I want it fixed up because I am going to have to come back in here again, quite frankly. I can see it happening. I do not doubt for one moment that what I am saying today is not going to earn a lot of friends in some places; I really do not care about that. What has happened is not good enough. They are trying to put to one side the findings of the Ombudsman. Members in this place know what happens in regard to the Ombudsman: the Ombudsman can give opinions but cannot enforce anything. The Ombudsman can express a view about what should happen and what should not happen. I believe the current Ombudsman is a very good ombudsman and that he sums things up pretty well.

Unfortunately in this case, this council is ethically bankrupt, it is almost financially bankrupt, and the poor old ratepayers will have to pick it up and sort it out. I know that there are councillors there now who feel browbeaten and cajoled by what goes on; they are not game to ask questions in council. Just as we on this side of the house ask questions of the government as part of our process, which is right and proper, councillors should be able to ask deep and meaningful questions of the CEO and the administration of Kangaroo Island Council and get answers. That is not happening; they are not game to.

They are being bullied. It is outrageous, it is a disgrace and, as I said, the local government minister has to do something about it and has to act immediately and move to put things right. There are a couple of major projects—the airport project is going to happen in the near future—and they could present another opportunity to speak in the house, particularly after having been to the Public Works Committee. I am not comfortable and I have no confidence in the current CEO and a couple of the senior managers, a topic which I may have to pick up on at another time.

I thought after the election in 2014 that we might have a new council that might be able to fix up a few things. The Kangaroo Island Council does some very good things, let me say that, but what is happening at the moment is not good. I shudder to think what the CEO will treat people like after he has been made aware of what I have had to say in this place.

I say again that I did not want to do this, I do not want to put it on the public record, but this is the place to do it. I want to protect the ratepayers and my constituents of Kangaroo Island, I want to protect the staff of the council—both administrative and outside staff—and I want to see the ship of state over there running properly. It is not running properly at the moment. It is urgent and desperate that the minister acts. I spoke to him briefly today in the house and told him I was talking, so he is aware of what I have been doing, and I am sure that out of all this will come some good. There have to be changes, they have to be made quickly. You cannot pay someone over $200,000 a year and have a disaster such that is occurring.

At 17:03 the house adjourned until Tuesday 22 March 2016 at 11:00.