CHARLES STURT COUNCIL

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:27): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question relating to the Ombudsman's inquiry into Charles Sturt council.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Yesterday the President tabled a report from the Ombudsman's investigation of the City of Charles Sturt. The investigation found that:

the community had reason to be concerned about some councillors' potential conflicts of interest in the revocation [of St Clair reserve] decision...

and

local government legislation fails to match community expectations and capture these conflicts

The report outlines a number of areas that the Ombudsman considers were unlawful or otherwise wrongful actions of the Labor dominated council, including: unlawfully excluding the public from council meetings; keeping council reports, appendices and minutes secret when there was no lawful basis to do so; and failing to consider governance risks, such as conflict of interest in its prudential report, as required by section 48(2)(h) of the Local Government Act.

Given these important findings, my question to the minister is: will the minister commit to providing a formal response to the parliament on the Ombudsman's report within three months on what actions the government will be taking to remedy these problems; and if no action is to be taken, why no action will be taken?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:28): As you are aware, Mr President, the report was tabled yesterday. I started reading the report last night and I will get a full briefing summary of the entire report very shortly. I will also say as minister for state and local government that we have been working on various changes to the state Local Government Act. I did note the recommendations in regard to changes to that act by the Ombudsman. I am sure that we will be able to accommodate a number of those recommendations.

I am glad the member has given me three months to give a response. I certainly will give a very considered response to that report. We treat breaches of the Local Government Act very seriously and the intention of the government will be to lift the standards and the governance of local government. We are working with the Local Government Association and will soon release a discussion paper in regard to the Local Government Act and various changes. What the Ombudsman has done is give me an opportunity to consider his recommendations when we release our discussion paper.