On 4 March 2008, I, David Brian Farmer, of 41 Burelli Street, Wollongong, state:

1. I was appointed as the General Manager of Wollongong City Council on 4 June 2007.

2. I was the Assistant General Manager of Mudgee Shire Council between 1996 and 1998, its General Manager between 1998 and 2000, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Cairns City Council between 2000 and 2007.

3. I, and many councillors and staff of the Council, have been astonished and appalled by the revelations of this public inquiry. It has brought to light conduct that is unforgivable, and that I will never tolerate or excuse.

4. I acknowledge that one consequence of the conduct that has been revealed is that the Council must regain the trust and confidence of the people it represents and serves, and those in business and government with whom it deals. There is no more urgent task facing the Council. I realise that the only way in which this can be done is to ensure that in everything it does the Council is open, ethical, honest and fair. I accept that it is my responsibility, by the leadership that 1 must give as the General Manager of the Council, to put these principles at the forefront of the Council’s work.

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WAC website
http://wollongongagainstcorruption.org.au

WAC’s Wollongong Charter for Ethics and Good Governance
http://wollongongagainstcorruption.org.au/news/d/wollongong.charter.for.ethics.and.good.governance/

WAC Community Forum  “submit poems, songs, artwork and stories for publication.”  Send to the editor at  wac.group@yahoo.com.au

Red-eye rule: planning law ‘rammed through’
Jano Gibson and Brian Robins
SMH website June 4, 2008 – 12:08PM

“The Planning Minister, Frank Sartor, and one of the main opponents of the controversial proposed changes to planning laws have traded insults after the reform bill was passed in the Legislative Assembly in the early hours today.

The bill went through at 2am after a long debate and amid criticism Labor forced the changes through while the public’s attention was focused on the state budget.”

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Wollongong City Council is now being run by senior State technocrats and local Council senior bureaucrats.

Despite the WCC signage which proclaims “Wollongong – Working with you” there is a very clear trend emerging which totally sidelines real community participation in Council’s decision-making – and that trend is best summed up by “Wollongong City Council – Working without you.”

“And very nice it is, thank you.” is the message to be read in the behaviour of those now basking in new levels of power.

All power is now being concentrated in the hands of a very small group – the three State appointed Administrators and senior Council management staff.

With no Councillors to represent the wider interests of our communities there is no real means for our communities to keep check on their narrowly conceived plans for implementing their own world-views.

Is there a name for rule by technocrats and bureaucrats – apart from “a slow disaster for us all”?

It is clear, from the indecent haste with which Council decided to implement the Frank Sartor vision for the use of Independent Hearing Assessment Panels – without any real community consultation with us – that the Administrators take their bearings from their State Minister Patrons. “Always please your paymaster” is a formula for success on the bureaucratic career path.

Last weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald ran a front page story on how the ALP NSW Government is busily winding back the small but important gains which people in community have managed to achieve vis-a-vis the power of money and greed.

It is also clear that senior Council management staff find the present cosy arrangement – with the absence of our elected representatives – very much to their liking. The WCC General Manager – and not community groups – will appoint the community representatives on IHAPS! (see wcc media release below.)

How wrong is that! A total concentration of power and a field ripe for all manner of control trips, such as using Memoranda of Understanding and spurious notions of ‘commercial in confidence’ to prevent community representatives reporting back, in a timely and effective manner, to our communities.

Hey, attention all staff! We ratepayers and taxpayers are the real paymasters.

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For SMH article 31 May 08 “Who cares what the Neighbours think” by Wendy Frew see:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/who-cares-what-the-neighbours-think/2008/05/30/1211654312908.html

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