Case study
After the Wollongong City Council investigations

Speaker:
Illanan Halliday
Director, Corporate and Community Services, Wollongong City Council

Abstract:
In March 2008, based on a recommendation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption
(ICAC) Wollongong City Council was placed under Administration. Dr Col Gellatly AO, Mr Robert
McGregor AM and Ms Gabrielle Kibble AO were appointed as Administrators of the Council until the Council’s fresh elections in September 2012.

The Administrators focused early attention to instigating anti-corruption initiatives as recommended by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, as well as, in regard to planning:

• revisions to the delegations of planning officers
• a new system of peer review for all Development Applications
• the establishment of an Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel (commonly known as an IHAP)
• a ‘Development Application (DA) Register’ which tracks the status of individual DAs and is publicly available via Council’s website
• introduction of a new standard assessment template for use by all town planners when assessing DAs
• an annual random audit program of a sample of DA determinations
• a new Local Environmental Plan for the City which has been publicly exhibited following a review by Administrators of certain aspects of the draft plan which had been amended on the floor of Council.

And, in regard to governance, the Administrators focused on:

• the recruitment of an Internal Ombudsman
• a new protected disclosures (PD) toolkit, with Protected Disclosure and referral officers
• a review of the Fraud and Corruption Policy and Plan
• ICAC provided corruption prevention training for all staff in leadership roles
• corruption awareness and code of conduct sessions for all staff, using simple relevant examples
• separate Audit and Corporate Governance Committees with independent external representatives as Chairs
• a full review of the Delegations Register, which is published on Council’s website
• a Code of Business Ethics was developed and forwarded to all major suppliers and contractors of Council
• new policies on gifts and benefits; internal reporting; conflict of interest; use of confidential information; and secondary or outside employment, with e-learning training modules for each policy
• compulsory training covering code of conduct, protected disclosures, gifts and benefits, conflict of interest and use of confidential information
• all Council resolutions are assigned and tracked in Council’s document management system
• adoption of a Governance Health Check that monitors our policies and reporting requirements
• establish a policy register, with sunset clauses on all policies
• introduce an Enterprise Wide Risk Management system, with annual business plans addressing risk management, including fraud
• development of a clear strategic direction to provide clarity and focus to decision making
• commence leadership and development program based on rebuilding a constructive culture and living the values that had been ignored by several senior staff.

The Administrators publicly stated that they had ‘drawn a line in the sand’, seeking to reassure residents of Wollongong that activities and work practices of previous administrations were not tolerated. Under the Administration’s ‘Wollongong is Moving Forward’ program:

• a new General Manager, appointed three months before Administrators were in place, and externally recruited three Directors to make up the new executive team
• all staff identified as ‘affected persons’ in ICAC’s Operation Atlas were no longer in Council’s employment
• large operating deficits over the last few years, balanced by a significant underinvestment in community assets and borrowings, are being addressed
• the debt funded capital works program was reduced and major savings targets in last year’s Management Plan totalling $6.7m in specified and unspecified savings targets. This target was met and is recurrent. A further target of $2.7m has been added to that amount this year
• the Administrators have made informed and sound decisions on several matters that have been in abeyance.

Wollongong is moving forward. This ambitious program reflects only 15 months under Administration.
The emerging environment in Wollongong is truly positive and conducive to good governance.