Georges River Council has been issued a Performance Improvement Order (PIO) from the Minister for Local Government on 29 June 2021.

The PIO requires that:

  1. Councillors immediately refrain from:

1. acting contrary to the requirements of the Code of Conduct by making allegations of wrongdoing, or implying wrongdoing, by any other Council official at Council, committee or other meetings, whether open to the public or not, or in any other forum, whether public or not;
2. moving motions concerning the referral of matters concerning the alleged conduct of Council officials to external agencies except where the matter arises from the reporting of the findings of an investigation undertaken pursuant to Council's adopted Procedures for the Administration of its Code of Conduct, or is necessary for the proper authorisation and oversight of expenditure.

2. Clr Vince Badalati and Clr Con Hindi immediately refrain from asking any questions concerning an ICAC investigation into their conduct at Council, committee or other meetings, or as otherwise allowed by Council’s policies and/or procedures.

3. Clr Vince Badalati and Clr Con Hindi not be present at any Council forum at any time during which any matter concerning an ICAC investigation into their conduct is being considered.

4. Each councillor enters into the written undertaking attached and forming part of this order within 7 days of the date of this order.

5. Council:

1. within 3 months of the date of this order, complete a further assessment of the adequacy of its systems and protocols for maintaining the confidentiality of information, including, but not limited to a review of the findings of all investigations undertaken or otherwise commissioned by it in relation to the disclosure of confidential Council information;
2. within 6 months of the date of this order, address any inadequacies in its systems and protocols for maintaining the confidentiality of information.

Council has one week to report on its compliance to Action 4 and then staged reporting requirements to report on the other actions within 6 months of the commencement of the Order.

You can see the Performance Improvement Order and compliance reporting requirements here.
 

• Compliance Report 1 (5 July 2021)
• Compliance Report 2 (30 July 2021)
• Compliance Report 3 (31 August 2021)
• Compliance Report 4 (29 September 2021)
• Compliance Report 5 (30 September 2021)
• Compliance Report 6 (31 October 2021)
• Compliance Report 7 (1 December 2021)
• Compliance Report 8 (31 December 2021)
• Compliance Report 9 (31 December 2021)
• Compliance Report 10 (31 December 2021)

You can learn more about Performance Improvement Orders here.

You can see which NSW Councils have current improvement and interventions underway here.

For the avoidance of doubt, this order is not to be construed as applying to council staff.

The General Manager and staff of Georges River Council are dedicated to ensuring this PIO does not impact service provision and support to our community.

Councils' media statement is here.