The latest Burnside squabble has escalated to ridiculous proportions
Burnside’s council should sit down with a cuppa and bickie to tackle the constant bickering, writes Mike Smithson.
Having just gasped at my latest Burnside Council rates notice, it never ceases to amaze me at the wasteful, methanic hot air emanating from this leafy municipal chamber.
Ratepayers across Adelaide and the state will have their own problems with local ‘parish pump’ squabbles, but this council takes the cake.
A specially commissioned report found factionalism, bullying and toxic exchanges are rife with legal costs soaring as roadway verges, footpaths, parks, litter and dog poo seem to be increasingly left unattended.
But who’s bullying who?
The ongoing angry behaviour and complaints are largely between well-known Mayor Anne Monceaux, almost 20-year veteran Councillor Jane Davey and other elected members.
The report found it’s the fourth time Cr Davey has been involved in a standards’ behavioural breach.
As long-suffering ratepayers are left to deal with the cost-of-living crisis and interest rates they can barely see over, the council’s time is regularly taken up with petty exchanges which were sorted out rationally when I was growing up.
To cut a long story short, it appears some councillors consider Her Worship has overstepped her role, and along with her husband, has assumed an overarching power that Donald Trump would be proud of.
Looking sideways at other councillors, smirking or levelling any form of criticism sends you straight to the naughty corner.
Such emotion disobeys the ‘must-be-obeyed’ Local Government Behaviour Management Code, introduced in 2022 after a damning Ombudsman’s report into other unsavoury matters.
It effectively means councillors are investigated in secret and findings rarely become public.
Ratepayers have forked out more than $20,000 to have the latest legal review into Cr Davey’s alleged behaviour, which in former times could have been resolved in the mayor’s parlour over a nice cup of tea and a slice of Neapolitan cake.
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But Davey says any mediation process has been bypassed.
So, what’s new you may well ask?
Just a few years ago Burnside Council slammed the door on disclosing why its long-term chief executive, Paul Deb was sacked without notice.
A pricey public relations company was brought in to handle media damage control.
The dismissal followed allegations he made derogatory comments about elected members.
He later lost an unfair dismissal case in the Supreme Court
Burnside’s no orphan when it comes to bad raps.
Some of the state’s largest and most influential councils have been left almost paralysed by unwanted PR sucking up oxygen in the past.
In 2017 the CEO at Onkaparinga was forced to pay back $6800 to ratepayers.
He’d been gifted membership to the prestigious Kooyonga Golf Club, also unsurprisingly falling foul of the state Ombudsman.
Onkaparinga spent $22,000 of ratepayers’ money in a legal bid to keep that case a secret.
The latest Burnside squabble has now escalated to ridiculous proportions.
So, what brought on the ongoing kerfuffle?
Cr Davey questioned why fellow Cr Lilian Henschke, wife of well-known Seniors’ advocate and former media personality Ian Henschke, had failed to attend official meetings and workshops.
She’d also suggested Cr Henschke was texting her husband for council advice during an open meeting.
What followed was an official and anonymous complaint against Davey.
Cr Davey addressed a council meeting with a frank assessment of the situation unfolding, seemingly at her expense.
But a vote prevented her from tabling the document into council records.
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So, for the first time, let me reveal her speech and why the mayor might want it shredded.
Firstly, Cr Davey claims denial of natural justice.
Secondly, she argues that no formal complaint was made against her and the all-powerful code doesn’t accept anonymous complaints.
“The mayor alleges a complaint was made to her, but it has not been produced,” Davey told the council meeting.
“The whole process is lengthy and secret, and I can see no legal basis on which to apply the code to me in the way the mayor has chosen.”
The full council meeting would have been reaching for the popcorn at this point, as she then accused the mayor of abusing her power and creating corrosive factional divisions.
Don’t hold back councillor.
“The complex business of council operates in a political environment in which many discussions are held, often with robust claims made and sometimes disagreements,” the Cr Davey said.
Cr Davey has agreed to undertake training and counselling at who knows what further cost to ratepayers?
In fact, every Burnside councillor will soon undergo additional training.
So, the argument comes down to who’s bullying who, and does it really need to blow out into a costly legal stoush?
If we applied the same sensitivities to state parliament, question time would result in an even longer ramping queue at the RAH, with the entire front bench probably requiring treatment.
The mayor fiercely refutes these claims and defends her actions.
“My responsibility is to keep confidentiality if it impacts on the health of any councillor’s mental and physical well-being,” Moneaux said.
“I have not treated her (Cr Davey) badly, I’ve totally followed procedural fairness.”
The mayor also claimed the Davey document had inaccuracies and hence was prevented from being tabled.
Monceaux denies she’s created ‘toxicity’, claiming she’s working tirelessly to repair past damage.
Just for the record and adding to the insult of a rising legal bill, Burnside rates rose by 9.8 per. cent for this financial year.
But it could have been worse, it was seeking 14 per cent.
At least we now know that part of the rate hike is keeping council’s legal advisors very happy.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7NEWS.
