BURNSIDE CITY COUNCIL

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:34): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question relating to the City of Burnside.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: On 1 August 2008, the head of the minister's department wrote to the council seeking its response to a series of complaints, including that the council is placing inappropriate weight on a range of decisions on the views of a person who is neither an elected member nor a member of staff.

In answer to a question yesterday, the minister said that, first, following the letter of 1 August last year, allegations were found to be too general and lacked sufficient evidence to support initiation of an investigation under the Local Government Act. Secondly, later, in the same answer, the minister advised that between November 2008 and March 2009 a complainant continued to submit further complaints to the minister's office. The minister advised that these complaints had been thoroughly assessed but they were deemed to be lacking in the detail required to be able to substantiate the allegations. The minister reminded the council:

An investigation under the Local Government Act requires a trigger and a reasonable belief of a breach of legislation...

Later in her answer, the minister stated:

If an investigation is warranted, I can certainly assure South Australians that the terms of reference will be broad enough to capture any and all breaches, including whether inappropriate weight has been placed by the council in any decisions on the views of a person who is neither an elected member nor a member of staff that could constitute a breach of legislation.

My questions are:

1. Has the minister received any allegations relating to the undue influence of an unelected person on Burnside council, other than those concerns raised in the letter of 1 August 2008 and the complaints received between November 2008 and March 2009?

2. Considering that all the concerns in her letter of 2 July relate to the relationship between elected members and between elected members and staff, does the minister have legal advice that any investigator appointed under section 272 of the Local Government Act will have the authority to investigate issues of undue influence of an unelected person given that, under section 272(2), council has not been given a reasonable opportunity to explain its actions regarding concerns related to the undue influence of an unelected person?

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) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for his question. I have spoken at great length in this chamber previously and I have put on record on numerous occasions details around the potential for an investigation and the processes involved. At this point in time I have no further detail to add to that.

A process has been put in place, and there are requirements that need to be met under the Local Government Act. Due process needs to be followed, and the council has been given until tomorrow to provide its response. I do not believe that it is in anyone's interests or in any way helpful to be pre-empting any other detail or allegations at this point in time.

A preliminary investigation was conducted. Yesterday I spent a great deal of time putting on record details about the various correspondence that was raised in this chamber. That is on the record, and at this point there is really no further detail to be added to that.