NEWCASTLE lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes and her Labor councillors are set to support an investigation into the Scott Neylon letter-writing controversy.
Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig said on Monday he would write to Cr Nelmes requesting an investigation into council boss Jeremy Bath's close friend's misleading letter-writing campaign, which was revealed in the Newcastle Herald on Saturday.
Cr Nelmes said while she had not received Mr Hoenig's request yet, the issue would be discussed at Tuesday night's council meeting.
"I expect that I will receive correspondence from the minister in due course. In the meantime, my colleagues and I support an investigation, in accordance with the Local Government Act and the model code of conduct," she said.
"This process is clear in the policy, and in accordance with the code of conduct, will be undertaken by an independent conduct reviewer."
The man at the centre of the controversy, Japanese expat Mr Neylon, who has been friends with Mr Bath since before university, also told the Herald on Tuesday afternoon he would participate in the investigation.
In an email, Mr Neylon said while he was under no obligation to take part in the investigation, he would.
His 18 letters to the editor, over almost a decade, follow Mr Bath's career progression and his most recent offerings, since his friend was appointed council CEO, support the administration and target its critics.
Mr Neylon's descriptions of his life are contradictory and often incorrect. In one letter, he purports to have a teenage child. In another, he is a pensioner who spends his days at City of Newcastle pools with his grandkids.
The 47-year-old once again on Tuesday sidestepped a host of questions, including why social media posts linking him to Mr Bath have been removed since the Herald began investigating the relationship between the pair.
Mr Neylon said he would "not assist" the Herald in "continually trying to link Jeremy to my letters".
"I look forward to clearing my name in the investigation the local government minister has requested, as I haven't broken any laws, and haven't cost taxpayers any money," he said.
"All I have done is embarrass the Newcastle Herald by exposing how sloppy its letters to the editor vetting process is."
Echoing the same sentiments, Cr Nelmes said she was disappointed that following Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery's call for an investigation, it would be at a cost to ratepayers.
"The Herald should note its own responsibility in this matter, publishing letters without verification of addresses, inconsistent with the standards issued by the Press Council," she said.
"Unfortunately, the process failures at the Newcastle Herald will now result in substantial costs borne by Newcastle ratepayers."
Editor Lisa Allan said the Herald was proud that the majority of loyal readers valued the letters page as a platform for debate and the open exchange of honest opinion.
"The readers of the page will no doubt be as disappointed as we are that the forum has been abused," she said. "The letters verification process at the Herald has been in place for decades and is in line with how letters are handled at many major mastheads in Australia and overseas. It requires contributors to disclose their full name, home suburb, email address and phone number, which are then verified by telephone.
"We will examine whether the process can be improved, but there is only so much we can do to combat those determined to mislead or deceive."
Ms Hornery, who has been an loggerheads with council for months over the leasing of its inland pools and the main target of Mr Neylon's most recent letters, issued a statement on Tuesday morning asking Cr Nelmes to ensure any investigation was independent.
Ms Hornery said the Herald stories had revealed "inconsistencies" that could only be resolved by a thorough, independent investigation.
She was supported in her initial call on Monday for an investigation into the matter by Newcastle Federal MP Sharon Claydon and Minister for the Hunter Tim Crakanthorp, also both targets of Mr Neylon's letters.
"If City of Newcastle is being appointed the investigator, the investigation must not be a case of the fox being put in charge of the chicken coop," Ms Hornery said.
"It is of the utmost importance that City of Newcastle appoint an independent investigator and publish the terms of reference of the investigation to ensure due process and transparency."
Mr Neylon has been close friends with Mr Bath for decades and lists his address on the electoral roll at the council CEO's Lake Macquarie home, despite the fact that he has been living in Japan since at least 1998.
He told the Herald via email last week that Mr Bath never asked him to write the letters and Mr Bath has denied any involvement.
Mr Bath was reappointed chief executive of the council until December 2027 on a package that saw his earnings reach above half a million dollars a year, in a decision communicated to councillors in a memo in the days before Christmas last year.
The Newcastle Herald reported in January that according to the memo, a performance review panel - which comprised Labor and Greens councillors with no Liberal or Independent representatives - met on October 27 to offer Mr Bath a new five-year contract to December 12, 2027, with an increase in his "total remuneration package" of 3.5 per cent.
Ms Hornery said given the trust Cr Nelmes and deputy lord mayor Declan Clausen place in Mr Bath, they "must surely welcome the opportunity to clear this up".
"For the interests of democracy, and to prevent further erosion of trust in this council, lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes must appoint an independent investigator to address this matter, anything less would be a betrayal of trust that the voters and ratepayers of Newcastle placed in her," she said.
In response, Cr Nelmes said the investigations' "most prominent public supporter", Ms Hornery, had waged a campaign against councillors for nearly a year now, "likely in order to influence internal Labor Party disputes, council preselections and the decision making of councillors on government tender processes".
"In supporting an independent investigation, I will be requesting that the scope of the investigation also examines how confidential electoral roll details about council staff and their friends and family came into the possession of journalists, noting that it is a serious Commonwealth and NSW offense, carrying a penalty exceeding $100,000," she said.
"I will also request that the scope of any investigation consider the impact of the breach of privacy on council staff, their families and friends, including the publication of personal home addresses.
"It's important that due process and procedural fairness is allowed, and council will adhere to the requirements of the code of conduct."
Do you know more? Donna.page@newcastleherald.com.au
