Liverpool Council announces legal challenge to suspension

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun has announced a legal challenge after the city council was threatened with a suspension and postponement of the September elections just days earlier.

On Thursday, the Office of Local Government published a 50-page investigation detailing widespread dysfunction, maladministration and potential corruption within Liverpool Council.

Municipal Minister Ron Hoenig wrote to the mayor saying he wanted to suspend the council and postpone the election while the investigation is conducted. The council has seven days to respond.

The Council met today in an extraordinary session to respond to the Minister’s letter and the proposed measures.

The report gathered evidence over a three-month period and details “a number of problem areas relating to recruitment and staffing practices, contract award irregularities, allegations of inadequate documentation and widespread evidence of a toxic work environment.”

Hoenig announced the investigation in April after John Ajaka, a former New South Wales Liberal minister, became the council’s 10th permanent or acting CEO to be sacked in eight years.

“The communities expect their council to act with the highest integrity and in their best interests,” Hoenig said on Thursday.

“It has become clear that this is not the case at Liverpool City Council and that there is significant dysfunction throughout the organisation.”

“A public inquiry is therefore a necessary measure to expose all the problems and begin the process of restoring trust in the council.”

Mayor Mannoun welcomed the investigation but accused the government of delaying the investigation in order to influence the elections. He described the intention to suspend the council as “purely political”.

Hoenig said the public inquiry was “a necessary measure” to restore trust in the local council.

“I want to ensure that the Commissioner can oversee this investigation without the politically charged environment of an election. That is why I believe it is in the public interest to postpone the Liverpool elections in September.”