Mayor silences critics ... again

 

Image taken from a document published by the NSW Parliamentary inquiry (our redactions)

At Tuesday’s (Feb 21) meeting of council, Councillor Virginia Ellis (North Ward) was absent without any apology being given and without leave of absence.  Documents published by the NSW Parliamentary inquiry show that private process servers employed by the inquiry were present in council chambers to serve summons on Councillor Ellis if she appeared.

Councillor Ellis, along with her son Christian Ellis and brother of NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, Jean Claude, are being sought as witnesses to the NSW Parliamentary inquiry but the inquiry staff and the private process servers they have employed have been unable to reach any of them.

Councillor Kasby sought to put a motion of urgency to the council.  According to a report published by The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday the motion sought to “address the missing witnesses and the potential impact that was having on the council’s reputation”.  We do not know the text of the motion and as far as we know it has not been published.  And of course that was, in part, the point of Gangemi’s intervention. 

Mayor Gangemi suppressed consideration of the motion and even prevented it being read into the record of the meeting on the grounds, ostensibly, that he did not consider it urgent.

We have transcribed, as faithfully as we are able, the relevant part of the meeting from the publicly available audio recording and we present that transcript below.

In our opinion the Hills Shire Council has unquestionably been brought into disrepute by this farce and Mayor Gangemi has only exacerbated that with his intervention on Tuesday.

Early documents published by the NSW Parliamentary inquiry show that Mayor Gangemi was also invited to appear as a witness. As far as we are aware no reply from Mr Gangemi has been published but the inquiry does not appear to have pursued the request..

We intend to investigate lodging a formal complaint with the Office of Local Government against Councillor Ellis, whose conduct in connection with the request for her appearance at the inquiry, in our opinion, makes her position entirely untenable.  We are also considering a complaint over the actions of Mayor Gangemi on Tuesday night.  Comments or suggestions on this will be welcomed.

Premier Perrottet has now decided to prorogue parliament five days earlier than planned.  This is likely to prevent further hearings or meetings of the inquiry before the state election and the Premier’s action gives the appearance that this is precisely his intent.

Transcript

[Transcript begins at ~07:22 in the publicly available recording]

Mayor Gangemi: Okay um … Councillor Kasby ?

… [inaudible consultation with Acting General Manager Michael Spence] …

Mayor Gangemi:  Do you have a um … well what’s the subject of the motion and is there a motion that you can present to us?

Clr Kasby: Thank  you Mr Mayor, yes there is a motion. I’ve just emailed it to Mr Spence so it should be appearing on the screen.  So am I okay to proceed?

… [inaudible consultation between Mayor Gangemi and Mr Spence] …

Mayor Gangemi:  Mr Acting General Manager, am I correct that she has one minute to speak and then I alone have the power to determine whether this motion is urgent enough to debate?  Is that correct?

Mr Spence:  Mr Mayor,  thank you.  Through you my understanding is that it is the chair’s  determination as to the urgency of the motion and I note the subject on the screen.  I then understand that there may be a protocol about allowing the councillor to explain why the matter is urgent so that you may give an informed view.

Mayor Gangemi:  Do I have to … can I make a decision right now or do I have to give the mover a minute to speak to the motion?

Mr Spence:  I’ll just take some advice from our governance section but it appears on my very quick reading, as I’ve not seen this before, that it would be fairly self-explanatory on the nature of the text but if you could just allow me two seconds please …

… [inaudible consultations] …

Mr Spence:  Mr Mayor, thank you for just that brief time and councillors just to take you to the code of meeting practice - clause 9.3 deals with allowing business to be considered at a meeting of council even though due notice of the business has not been given, which is the case here.  There are two limbs to be satisfied under clause 9.3.  The first, and these are in no particular order as both must be satisfied - a motion needs to be passed to have the business considered and the business considered is ruled by the chairperson to be of great urgency on the grounds that it requires a decision by the council before the next scheduled ordinary meeting of council.  So councillors and Mr Mayor, through you, if you were to rule that the matter was not of great urgency on those grounds then my view is that there would be no need for  a motion to be passed to have the business considered, but it’s a two part procedure to at least allow the business on.

Mayor Gangemi:  Then I determine that the matter is not urgent. I wish to proceed to item 2 of the business paper.

Clr Kasby: Point of order, Mr Mayor.

Mayor Gangemi:  I’ve made my decision. It’s done.  Item 2 …

Clr Kasby: Point of order!

Mayor Gangemi:  I’m the chair of this meeting

Clr Kasby: I have read the model code of meeting conduct and I understand Mr Reynolds has said it needs to be heard before a decision is made on whether it is considered.  The meeting doesn’t have to consider it but it needs to be heard.  It is tabled and it needs to be heard.  The meeting decides through a vote whether it’s going to be considered.  If it’s not considered I accept that.and we move on.  If it is considered then you have your chance to determine if it’s urgent and I will accept that if you decide it’s not urgent.  But it is tabled and under section 9.3 I am able to have this motion tabled, read out and considered and you can’t consider it until you’ve read it and you’ve also heard me speak to it …

Mayor Gangemi:  [inaudible] … Mayor Byrne did not allow us to speak, she just ruled it not urgent immediately off the bat.

Mr Spence:  Mr Chair, through you, my understanding of the application of the code of meeting practice is that the chair is able to rule on the urgency of the matter and if the chair is of the view that the matter is not urgent then …

Mayor Gangemi:  I am of that view.

Mr Spence:  … there’s no consideration of the matter.

Mayor Gangemi:  That’s it.  OK, thank you.  We move on to item 2.

Unidentified female councillor (Jethi??): Mr Mayor, I’ve got something please?

Mayor Gangemi:  I’ve determined the matter’s not of urgency. It’s over.

Unidentified female councillor (Jethi??): I …[inaudible]... for the acting general manager please?

Mayor Gangemi:  No. I’ve moved on to the next item.

Clr Kasby: Point of order.  This is not according to the code of meeting practice and I’ve had extensive discussions with …

Mayor Gangemi:  I’m the chair of the meeting.  The General Manager has given that advice and that’s it.

Clr Kasby: I believe I’m trying to follow the code of meeting conduct and that says that this motion can be tabled and then the meeting decides whether it’s considered.  You can’t  consider it until you have read it and…

Mayor Gangemi:  I’ve read it on the screen

Clr Kasby: … debated it. I deserve to speak to it.  A seconder deserves to speak to it.  Two people can speak against it.

Mayor Gangemi:  If you’d tabled a notice of motion before the business paper cut-off that would have been different.

Clr Kasby: No this is an urgent … I only knew today that Councillor Ellis was not appearing, so I could not table it a week ago.  This is absolutely urgent.  If it comes to …

Mayor Gangemi:  I’ve made my ruling.  The matter is not urgent.  It’s the end of this item.  Item 2 - planning proposal, Derriwong Road and Old Northern Road, Dural, 2/2023/PLP …

Clr Kasby: Point of order Mr Mayor.  Point of order. Is anyone going to support me on this?

Mayor Gangemi:  ..,.  we have Mike Williams of Legacy Property, who is in favour of the motion, who wishes to address council regarding this matter.  Mike if you’re in the chamber can you please come forward.

[Transcript ends at ~14:21 in the publicly available recording]