Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the ICAC inquiry is the almost complete absence of any Wollongong City councillor or council officer mentioned trying to do the right or proper thing.
Even worse it has been made clear to me over the past week that the WCC are not alone and in fact most Wollongong based institutions are inherently risk averse and decision makers are not prepared to undertake projects or take positions that on the face of it are clearly in their own or the region’s interest but involve even the smallest amount of risk taking or bad PR.
Better to do nothing than risk failure trying to be positive … pragmatism at its worst.
What we need is community and political leaders with a positive vision for our city’s future. We might not necessarily all agree with their approach, in fact some property owners may feel aggrieved, but it will be based on a well considered approach to town planning.
WOL have always maintained the city is crying out for leadership based on accepted professional standards, a real commitment to transparency, and always being responsive to citizens’ needs.
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WOLers have made their thoughts clear about the ICAC revelations and a selection of emails is reproduced below:
Elected councillors are the owners of all policy under which the City Council operates
While I agree with most of your recommendations, to me a crucial point being overlooked by many commentators and continues to be perpetrated in the stance that the "innocent" councillors have taken at their extraordinary meeting on Monday night. Their plea to not be sacked as they have done nothing wrong makes you wonder just what was it that they did right.
The reality is that the Board (all elected councillors) are the owners of all policy under which the City Council operates. The policy relating to developments is one, I'm sure, that they have had major input to and they must be more intimately aware of the details of it than probably any other council policy.
If the councillors had sensible and proper Corporate Governance procedures, then they would have had in place enough checks and balances to ensure that policy guidelines were being adhered to.
Any responsible Board would follow procedures that ensured, on a routine basis, all policy was being complied with.
With any Board there will be rare occasions when an issue will arise that falls outside current policy but my experience is, that as a matter of course, those matters cannot be approved unless there is full debate at Board level and ultimately Board approval.
So simply put, did the councillors have in place rigid procedures that ensured that any non conforming policy matter be brought to their attention and, if not, then they collectively have failed a very basic aspect of Corporate Governance procedure and collectively have failed the community they were elected to serve. If they can't get this right then they all need to go.
So while Neighbourhood Committees and the such like might give people a warm feeling, the reality is that the sort of thing that has currently brought so much abysmal publicity on this city will occur again, despite those committees, unless our elected representatives have enough understanding of what their corporate responsibilities really are. This lot, patently, have not had a clue, for if they did, this current mess would never have occurred.
George Edgar
Reinstate Neighbourhood Committees
It has now become abundantly clear through the ICAC Inquiry that the Neighbourhood Committees were removed from council’s agenda because ratepayers asked too many questions about developments. They were replaced by second rate street surveys where anyone from anywhere could give opinions on things that weren’t relevant to them. Most concerned ratepayers had second guessed this.
The call by the untarnished councillors to reinstate the NCs as a voice of the people to council must be fully supported.
And the call by the Property Council of Australia to hand over planning approvals to independent bodies is absurd in the extreme. The Property Council is a lobby group for developers. It has not been elected by ratepayers. It has never been given a mandate by the public in any form whatsoever.
The Property Council of Australia was championed by Lord Mayor Alex Darling when they opened an office in the Illawarra, and didn’t pay rent, as reported in the Mercury.
We must now also examine those in council who have been shown developments in other parts of the country for development proposals in the Illawarra. One such example is the still lurking around golf suburb at Maddens Plains on top of the Illawarra escarpment.
Alan Bond
Editorial Censorship
The issues being brought up at ICAC are important and impact the business community in the gong. They are about integrity and honesty and need to be discussed. Many of us knew or suspected what was going on. When Rod Oxley took control of planning in Wollongong without a planning qualification and when the council "working for you " agreed to cover his legal expenses at ICAC. These are issues which we need to be discussed. This is what we are fighting the war on terror to protect, DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH !!!!
If we shy away from this we are not much better than the perpetrators of these illegal acts. The planning laws are set up to ensure that development is done within agreed urban standards.
Tom Hadley
Distinct absence of Wollongong councillors
I think that for whatever reason councils fear the ratepayers questioning the DA process, there seems to have been a certain amount of vindication to that
viewpoint over the last few weeks in Wollongong Council’s case.
At the Illawarra Business After Hours function last week, there was a distinct absence of Wollongong councillors; it isn’t unusual for one or two to be doing their best Kath (of Kath and Kim fame) impersonation – Look at me, Look at me!.
There were so many people in that room that had horror stories of the Wollongong council DA process, from a swimming pool to the strata titling of a block into two titles. These people aren’t ‘developers’, they are ordinary small business people, the kind that council count on for support when it comes to running events, putting on shows etc.
If Wollongong Council has enough councillors left to form a quorum after ICAC have finished, they would be well served at remembering who they serve and how they got there when determining changes and processes for the future.
Ian Jervis
Who is accountable?
If some developers are corrupt in certain ways, there appears that others are using weak corporations law to wind up companies and walk. There is no accountability.
For crooks, you will find that ICAC will make its recommendations and certain people with political connections will walk.
You will note that the incumbent of the plum appointment to ports has been sent on leave ON FULL PAY.
Recently a woman was stood down for many months by the RTA whilst they attacked her with misleading lies. False statements to police and detectives. In addition they were proven to be manipulating liars and when they failed to charge this woman with any one of their endless charges, they then sacked her.
If that is not corrupt behaviour what is. Now we have a job for the boys deal and he is being fully paid.
What is Justice and who is accountable?
Name withheld
Everyone has a price
Unfortunately nobody is immune from corruption.
Neddy Smith once said in his book "Neddy", that everyone has a price and once that price is paid you own them.
Regarding Rod Oxley, well he needs to be made an example of, he was at the top of the gravy chain and if others are found guilty then they should follow with all the money given back to the taxpayer, with interest.
Hopefully they will all be unemployable.
Jim Stevens
I’ll say no more
bloody oath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark Johnston
Qualifications for developers
Clearly from the ICAC transcripts the qualifications for developers in Wollongong don’t require too much.
Graduates of the Deaf, Dumb and Blind School of Forgetfulness seem to be at the top. They graduate with honours in this list, including the selected subject of Lack of Curiosity in Asking Questions of their Consultants, Lack of Knowledge on how a Council Operates. Confusion is another applied course. A speciality is Backdoor Diplomas. Delete is a subject they don't teach.
Those that do environmental vandalism around the place have a special diploma, Reverse Psychology, which allows them to do the opposite of what is forbidden to them.
On home economics they graduate in Coffee and Kebabs with dessert being a tart on the side.
Alan Bond
How many consultants worked for WCC?
It is hoped that whoever the consultants were on these dubious developments that the ICAC Inquiry is all about, amongst other things, have the light of day shine on them.
These are the consultants who give the presentation to council about their clients’ development proposals. Yet we are finding out that these presentations are clearly not within the development lines. Surely these consultants must realise this. However, since they are getting paid by the client for services rendered, it would be hard pressed to find that they do not do a job against the favour of the client.
One documented case on council files shows a controversial development in Stanwell Tops where the consultant director requested the council not to readvertise an amendment as it was detrimental to their client. Council did readvertise, but then again, it was documented, wasn’t it.
One must wonder about how many consultants had previously worked for Wollongong Council over the last 20 years. I suppose the knowledge of how council worked would be a great benefit.
Alan Bond
Untainted councillors
We must stand behind the councillors who are untainted by the ICAC inquiry, including any ALP councillor. However I must state, I have no faith or confidence in the Mayor Alex Darling, having issued no statement of leadership on behalf of the council in this time of crisis.
The independent councillors mostly put their own meagre money into their election campaigns without developer donations. They were still elected.
The Mayor had $83,000 in donations mainly from companies as shown in the Mercury.
Even the rival for Mayor, Bob Proudfoot, had a Vella donation, one from Helensburgh Land Pooling and $20,000 from the ALP.
Apparently, pro-development lobbyist Proudfoot was kept out of the ALP for a couple of years by honest people in the ALP, because he ran a campaign against Bob Carr. Then he managed to join the ALP and get elected to WCC. He lobbied the Liberal Party to overturn the ALP's rejection of the Helensburgh expansion plan. After NOT getting elected the next time, he then ran for Mayor.
Yes, the scrutiny of political donations must come under an independent watchdog, so other vicious dogs don’t get their way.
Alan Bond
Tip of the iceberg
Unless people have read the transcripts from the ICAC Inquiry, they should not venture an opinion of sympathy to anyone mentioned in the Inquiry. There is no one to love in this.
It is becoming quite clear what has been going on. This inquiry has only to do with 4 development proposals. But the climate that covers them leads to more questions. The most important, how long has this been going on with the interference with development proposals? This current inquiry is only the tip of the iceberg.
Residents in one suburb already know of a meeting in one office where the planners were admonished for sticking by their guns when a developer wanted something the planners would not go along with. A female developer ran out of the office crying tears because she did not get what she wanted. The planners were berated by a senior council official.
This was voluntarily told to residents and myself by a stressed-out planner. Reported to ICAC, they said there was no evidence.
Have a guess who ICAC contacted first at the council.
Alan Bond
Getting better and more hilarious
The ICAC Inquiry into Wollongong City Council just keeps getting better and more hilarious. The former Manager of Development Assessment and Compliance, John Gilbert, said he did not stop Ms Morgan working on the $100,000,000 project because Wollongong was like a small country town, where a lot of people knew each other. Well, gee. Classic.
This is the same guy who attended a ratepayers Local Area Meeting and when I asked why people lived in sheds around Helensburgh on land that was not zoned for such a purpose, Mr Gilbert, straight face, replied saying they couldn’t afford to live in a house!
We also have David Campbell, Minister for Police, coming out with a message to tell people to keep their heads up, that must be because of the stench coming from Wollongong. Whatever happened to the investigation into the break-in of the Council basement two weeks after the ICAC raid, where, apparently, the security cameras weren’t on?
It would appear that Wollongong City Council was a facade to some, while a personal private business enterprise was run inside.
Alan Bond | 
