The lord mayor of Perth, Lisa Scaffidi, has defended her conduct and blamed bad advice and systemic governance failures within the local government sector for her decision to accept, and then fail to disclose, luxury holidays from companies which had matters before council.
Western Australia’s corruption watchdog, the Corruption and Crime Commission, on Monday released a damning report finding Scaffidi had committed serious misconduct and “failed in her duties as lord mayor” for not disclosing a trip to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, paid for by BHP and costing US$36,000 a person, and for accepting and failing to disclose a 2008 trip to Broome, paid for by the property developer Hawaiian Investments and taken soon after she voted with council to approve a $180,000 contribution to its “business improvement district”.
It also ruled that her failure to declare a three-day trip to see Chris Isaak perform at the Margaret River winery Leeuwin Estate in March 2009, again paid for by BHP Billiton, was serious misconduct.
The decision to accept the Beijing trip, the written invitation of which was received a few days before council agreed to waive $22,000 in rent for BHP to screen the games on a big screen in a public square, was only ruled misconduct.
In a combative interview on ABC radio 720 on Tuesday, Scaffidi said she was “deeply and truly apologetic” for failing to report the gifts.
“I am completely remorseful about the non-disclosure and certainly, as I have said to you, I would never have not disclosed these things if I had known,” she told the ABC Mornings host, John McGlue. “But early in my time as lord mayor, less so now, I had reasonable expectations that the governance people within the organisation could have helped that.”
The CCC report found Scaffidi had received an email from senior City of Perth staff in early 2009 advising her that the Olympics and Broome trips should go on her gift register, and that in October 2009 she had emailed the vice-president of BHP Billiton who invited her to the Olympics trip, telling him: “Of course it’s been registered.”
The Local Government Act of WA states that all gifts worth more than $300, if it is reasonable to believe that the giver might be active in that councillor’s council area, are prohibited. But Scaffidi did not answer directly when asked why she accepted them. She also did not directly answer why she told journalists in 2009 that she had received legal advice about accepting the trip when no such advice had been sought.
“As a brand-new lord mayor, I was entitled to rely on the guidance offered by people far more experienced than me in terms of governance,” she said.
“And at the end, I am not blaming the system because at the end of the day, the law and the errors made are mine to bear, and that is why there are these findings. But at the same time, the system was not there to assist me.”
Scaffidi is up for re-election this month, with polls closing on 17 October. Neither the WA government nor the opposition have called for her resignation.
But WA’s premier, Colin Barnett, said if Scaffidi was a minister he would “probably look at her resignation”.
“If you use the pub test with respect to Bronwyn Bishop and the helicopter – it might have been legal, it might have been allowed under entitlements but [it was] clearly inappropriate, just common sense would tell you,” Barnett told the West Australian.
The local government minister, Tony Simpson, said the Department of Local Government was “the appropriate authority to determine if any further action is warranted”.
“The department has the power to either prosecute or commence disciplinary proceedings for alleged breaches of the Local Government Act,” a statement released by the department on Tuesday said.
“In the absence of recommendations by the CCC, the department has sought a briefing from the CCC on its investigation and findings. Following this briefing the department will consider whether further action is warranted and in the public interest.”
Dr Julie Crews, a lecturer in ethics and governance at Edith Cowan University, said the rules for accepting gifts and making disclosures were “very clear” and Scaffidi’s statements after the report further “muddied the ethical waters”.
“As the lord mayor, the principal position in the council, she should have known the rules, and she did know the rules, and she did breach them,” she said.
