Adelaide City Councillors told to hand back their free memberships of Adelaide Oval, the Aquatic Centre and Golf Course have refused.
Advice from council CEO Peter Smith that the Facilities passes for the Aquatic Centre and Golf Course breach Independent Commissioner Against Corruption laws came in February after a briefing to council staff from Commissioner Bruce Lander.
Lander’s office, however, has denied the benefits are a problem.
“The commissioner has not provided any advice or recommendations on these matters,” his spokeswoman told InDaily.
“He doesn’t buy into issues that relate to conditions of employment or appointment.
“He certainly has never said anything to Adelaide City Council about facilities passes or Oval memberships.”
The confusion has led the council to seek further clarification from Attorney-General John Rau.
InDaily understands that two councillors refused to hand back the free passes, while many others have relinquished the rarely-talked about perks of office.
The conflicting views of what’s allowed and what isn’t date back to a briefing Lander gave to 31 administrative staff at the council on January 29.
“The briefing was based around how the new ICAC legislation will operate. There were no elected members of council in attendance,” Lander’s office said.
Shortly after the ICAC briefing, a recommendation was made to the council’s finance and corporate governance committee, based on a legal opinion and a review of standing orders.
On February 18 council standing orders were amended “to align these to the ICAC Act 2012 … and the Mandatory Code of Conduct for Elected Members”.
“Council endorses the removal of the facilities pass entitlement for all current council members,” the amendment said.
In further changes to the orders, the council restricted the use of UPark access cards to “official council business”.
The changes did not apply, however, to former lord mayors or council members with more than eight years’ service who can continue “complimentary lifetime use of the Adelaide Aquatic Centre, North Adelaide Golf Course and U-Park”, with their facilities pass.
Current council member Sandy Wilkinson said the advice to members was too heavy-handed in its interpretation of ICAC laws.
“It’s not about corruption in local government,” he said.
“It’s more a way of council administration exercising control over elected members who do not dutifully agree with what the administration wants or recommends.
“Alternatively it is a way of the council ‘being seen’ to be doing something about or in response to the new ICAC legislation, which in my view is missing the point of what ICAC is meant to be achieving.
“ICAC is about weeding out serious corruption, not about benefits that are meant to reflect the time and effort put in by elected members of local government councils.
“That’s why several of us have declined to hand back any passes or memberships.”
Wilkinson said the notion that a SACA honorary membership would somehow benefit the SACA in a corrupt way was fanciful.
“Many of the council members who had access to those passes actively opposed the SACA’s proposal to redevelop the Oval.
“For as long as the entitlement is declared on the public register, then there is nothing under-handed.
“This is a gross over-reaction.”
A spokesman for council CEO Peter Smith said today the changes were driven by two factors.
“There have been two changes in council’s legislative context in the last year. These include the introduction of the ICAC Legislation, along with the introduction of a mandatory Code of Conduct for Elected Members – both of which resulted in the need to change council’s standing orders,” the spokesman said.
“In late 2013, council initiated legal advice to guide the revision of our standing orders in line with these two factors.
“Based on legal interpretation of the ICAC legislation, council endorsed a range of changes in February 2014 to its standing orders.
“This included curtailing the use of an annual facilities pass for current members, to access at no cost the North Adelaide Golf Course & Aquatic Centre, as well as providing for the use of UParks only when on council business only.
“These changes were important in responding to the maladministration aspect of the ICAC Act to ensure that public resources are only used for official council business.
“A revised set of standing orders were provided to elected members in March 2014 covering the endorsed revisions.”
The code of conduct, however has caused some problems.
“Council has concluded that this section of the code is ambiguous and we believe more clarity is required to support people’s decision making. This view has been conveyed to the Attorney-General’s Department and the LGA,” the spokesman said.
In the meantime, reactions have varied.
The council said that since the revisions to standing orders earlier this year members have stopped using their facilities pass, “however, it remains their individual decision on which gifts and benefits they accept with no explicit advice to return or decline any specific item”.
The SACA memberships granted to council members appear to have gone out of favour under the new rules.
“In relation to SACA membership, these records indicate seven members declined the offer and five accepted it, of which four have since returned it.”
