Any action from people we rely upon to properly regulate the industry?

uncontrollable laughter

The OLG has been pretty busy and is probably still stinging from it’s embarrassing performance when it attended Budget Estimates with the Minister on Friday 4 September. You’d think, wouldn’t you, that if you were going to turn up at a meeting of the Budget Estimates committee, when your political opponents have the opportunity of examining your budget proposals, that there would be certain documents you might take with you and have safely in your possession.

We all make mistakes, and it’s good to be forgiving, but here is the transcript:

The Hon. PETER PRIMROSE:

I refer to page 8-36 of Budget Paper No. 3 and specifically the revised figure for investment revenue for the last financial year of $387,000. The amount listed for this year is represented by three dots. Can you please explain what this item is and why there is no revenue expected this financial year?

Mr PAUL TOOLE:

I will ask the chief executive if that information is there in front of her.

Ms DOHENY:

The information is not in front of me but I will take that on notice.

Mr DAVID SHOEBRIDGE:

So did you come to budget estimates without the budget papers?

The Hon. PETER PRIMROSE:

I am happy to provide them, Minister.

Mr DAVID SHOEBRIDGE:

Did you come to budget estimates without the budget papers?

Mr PAUL TOOLE:

We said we would take it on notice and we will provide that information.

Mr DAVID SHOEBRIDGE:

You came to budget estimates without the budget papers.

The Hon. SCOTT FARLOW:

The Minister is trying to provide an accurate answer to the member.

CHAIR:

Order! It is the Hon. Peter Primrose's time, Mr Shoebridge


Hilarious, you can almost hear David Shoebridge cacking himself.

While the apologists might like to describe this as a political question, go into denial and try to ignore the dreadful response, the incapacity to answer a simple and basic question about a gap in the financial statements for which you as Minister or CEO, are both responsible, is hard to comprehend.

Nothing from the Minister, nor the Office for Local Government on North Sydney nor Mid-Western but, at last, one councillor has been suspended! It’s about time, it’s been a couple of years otherwise and there is no point introducing a punitive regime that relies upon a limit of three suspensions to be banned, if no one ever gets suspended. The Minister doesn’t bother suspending anyone, even though he is clearly surrounded by dozens of likely candidates.

Apart from some boofhead at Narrabri who was suspended by order of the Chief Executive Office of Local Government Marcia Doheny on 29 May. Two years ago (yes, two years ago) on 13 September 2013, this dope slapped a Council employee across the buttocks “while making comment and laughing”. Now he has been suspended for two months. He would probably regard that as a badge of honour.

Whether Budget Estimates was embarrassing or otherwise, and whether OLG is resting on their laurels for suspending some boofhead for two months at Narrabri for an offence that took place two years earlier, the OLG took off with the threat to suspend Hurstville Council for sacking their GM (yes, Pizza Man) having been suspended since May - a threat so effective it would appear, that the Council immediately resolved to reinstate him.

But he had been suspended since May for what, on the face of it, looked like nothing more than trying to have the Council deal with its responsibilities on a property owned by the Mayor.

So, that’s a tick for our prediction of continued inaction by the regulators.

Friday 4 September 

It’s in the Minister’s office but nothing’s happening. It has been:

since the Government and the Minister were appointed on 5 April 2023. We are still waiting for the legislative changes required.

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