COPPER COAST DISTRICT COUNCIL

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (14:23): You should hang your heads in shame—a really good woman! You are disgraceful. I seek leave to make a ministerial statement about the District Council of Copper Coast.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I have previously informed honourable members that I have received a serious complaint in relation to the process undertaken by the District Council of Copper Coast to sell land located at Owen Terrace, Wallaroo, to Leasecorp for development of the Wallaroo town centre, which includes a Woolworths supermarket. That complaint relates to whether the council had breached section 49 of the Local Government Act 1999 by failing to comply with its contracts and tendering policy by not providing all prospective purchasers of the land with an equal opportunity to submit their best and final offer.

I sought legal advice from the Crown Solicitor's Office on the matter. The Crown Solicitor's Office considered that it required further information and instructed the Government Investigations Unit to acquire that information. I can now report that the Crown Solicitor's Office has completed its investigation and has provided me with its advice. The Crown Solicitor did not find evidence of financial impropriety on anyone's part; did not find evidence of a personal relationship between council members, council staff and Leasecorp that might cause concern; and did not find evidence of conduct that gives rise to any serious allegation of improper conduct. As a result of the advice, I consider that a formal investigation under section 272 of the Local Government Act 1999 is not warranted at this time.

As members know, upon my instigation a due diligence and governance audit of the council has been undertaken. The objective of that audit was to enable any shortcomings in the council's decision-making processes to be identified and action taken to address them, so that the community can be reassured that council's processes are robust and transparent. I expect to receive a copy of that final audit report shortly.

Nevertheless, I am very concerned by the lack of clarity and confusion in relation to these processes, and I have also asked officers from the Office of State/Local Government Relations to meet with the Copper Coast Council to ensure that its policies are clear and unambiguous in relation to calling for expressions of interest and contracting and tendering. I will also make available officers to assist the council to put in place a process for determining future actions that may result from the audit. It is my intention to ensure that council processes are fair and transparent and in keeping with good governance practices. I have also written to the council about these matters.

The need to have clear and broad powers to obtain information from councils to assist with the early resolution of any complaints or concerns has been apparent to me and has identified the need to improve local government contract and tendering policies and practices to ensure that the public sector standard of probity and accountability is applied. There is clearly a need to revise the legislative framework for local government contracting and tendering which was introduced in 1999, and to provide councils with clearer guidance in this area. It is my intention to do so in consultation with local government.

I recently released for public comment the Local Government Accountability Proposals Paper that contains my proposals for these and other issues.