"Burnside Council Corruption Inquiry Dismissed by SA Minister Petition after Discovering Numerous Breaches of Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 by Former Burnside Councillors"
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- Category: Uncategorised
- Created: Monday, 30 January 2012 17:15
- Written by Ann Bressington
As you may be aware, the former Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Gail Gago MLC established an inquiry under section 272 of the Local Government Act 1999 into the Burnside Council, headed by former Auditor-General, Mr Ken MacPherson. Following an extensive investigation, Mr MacPherson reportedly found numerous breaches of Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 by former councillors and others. The report of his inquiry detailing these findings, however, is currently suppressed by the Supreme Court following an action brought by six former councillors: Joanne Howard, Robert Paterson, Julian Carbone, Peter Pavan, Con Zacharakis and David Lincoln.
The Supreme Court judgement led to the new Minister, Russell Wortley MLC, deciding it was ‘too hard’ for Mr MacPherson to finalise his report and in his first act as Minister he terminated the inquiry. This is despite admitting that he had not spoken to Mr MacPherson, had not read the draft report, and legal advice Ann Bressington received from a prominent Queen’s Counsel, Mr Kevin Borick QC, stating that the Minister did not have the authority to terminate an inquiry once it had been lawfully established.
In feebly defending his decision to prematurely terminate the inquiry – in doing so denying residents of Burnside knowledge of the former council’s inappropriate and potentially unlawful conduct, the Minister stated “I would say a lot of people in Burnside don’t care.” To those residents of Burnside who initially campaigned for the investigation and then for those who had offended against their community to be held accountable, the Minister’s comments were deeply offensive. The Minister then tried to downplay the broader importance of Mr MacPherson’s inquiry, asking rhetorically “does anyone outside of Burnside really care?”
Knowing those who want Councils to be accountable and responsive to community views and free of inappropriate political or other influences care greatly, Ann has circulated a petition amongst residents of Burnside and is encouraging everyone who wants the truth about the ‘Burnside-gate’ saga exposed to sign the petition. Specifically, the petition to the Legislative Council calls upon the Parliament to insist Minister Wortley resumes the investigation and allows Mr MacPherson to finalise his report.
To download the petition, please click here. You are asked to get as many signatures as you can and then return the petition by post to Ann Bressington MLC, Parliament House, North Tce, ADELAIDE SA 5000.
Together, we can show the Minister we care!
(Source : http://bressington.net/LatestNews.htm)
