Liverpool City Council faces suspension, elections postponed due to ‘widespread dysfunction’

Liverpool City Council was placed into administration and its election postponed after a damning Office of Local Government investigation revealed evidence of widespread dysfunction in human resources, financial management, development assessment and regulatory integrity.

In a damning interim report, the High Court announced that the evidence gathered by investigators over the past three months was sufficient to hold a public inquiry into the council. Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig announced that he had written to the council announcing his intention to suspend the council while the investigation is ongoing.

Hoenig announced the OLG investigation in late April after former New South Wales Liberal Minister John Ajaka became the council’s tenth permanent or acting CEO in eight years, a scenario that was consistent with the Machiavellian and murderous plot of Game of Thrones.

Last week, this legal notice revealed that High Court investigators were concerned that council documents had been destroyed by staff. Liverpool Council’s acting chief executive, Jason Breton, wrote to staff warning them: “No documents of any kind are to be destroyed or removed until further notice.”

While uncertainty remained over exactly which documents OLG was referring to, which was first raised in an email to Breton, council sources, who spoke to this paper on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, believed the documents in question were emails related to planning decisions.

Mannoun has come under fire for his penchant for hiring Liberal-leaning staff. Ajaka joined former Liberal MLC Shayne Mallard in being appointed as the city’s director of futures in August last year, with former Liverpool councillor Tony Hadchiti being hired as Austral delivery coordinator.

Former senior council members, speaking on condition of anonymity, questioned the horrendous costs of hiring and firing senior staff and said the turmoil had undermined Liverpool City Council’s ability to operate effectively and its reputation as a location for investment.

There’s more to come.