Liverpool Council Wins Round One In Court

The NSW Government has stepped back from its action against Liverpool Council in the Land and Environment Court.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said the result was a great outcome for the Council and it has successfully obtained all it was seeking today in the Land and Environment Court.

“The Minister and the NSW Government have recognized Council has a seriously arguable case and we have clearly won the first battle.

“We look forward to the full hearing without the threat of suspension hanging over us.

“We maintain our argument that the Minister acted unlawfully and should not have taken the action he did.”

The Council initiated legal action against the State of NSW, the Minister for Local Government and three others against a stated intention by Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig to suspend the council and postpone Council’s elections during a public inquiry.

In a last-minute development before the matter was to be heard this afternoon, the NSW Government said it would cease all action against the council until the matter is fully heard in Court in August.

By consent, the court granted a series of injunctions in favour of the Council:

Mr Glover is restrained until the last day of the final hearing from conducting any public inquiry andthe Minister is restrained until the last day of the final hearing from suspending council, postponing the election of Council and appointing an administrator.

The hearing has been agreed to take place on 8 to 9 August 2024.

In written submissions to the court, Council’s barrister Tim Robertson SC said “Every action taken by the Minister and the second and third respondents in this imbroglio has been unlawful.

“There was no power to make an interim report before the conclusion of the investigation, because the Act only empowers a report of an investigation to be made "on the results of an investigation".

“There could be no results because the investigators had not even bothered to interview the persons against whom these serious allegations were made.

“The report itself states as much and refers throughout it to the incomplete investigation.

“However, there is, if anything, a greater vice in what occurred,” Mr Robertson said.

“The report referred to individuals by name or office and made allegations against them which appear to have been based on office gossip and not any review of the facts.

“It could not possibly have been reasonable for the Minister to act on an unlawful report and appoint a public inquiry on the strength of it.

In its action in the Land and Environment Court, the Council has sought:

A declaration that the Deputy Secretary of the Office of Local Government, Brett Whitworth, had no power to make an interim report before the conclusion of his investigation into the Council.A declaration that, in reporting adversely about Liverpool Council and individuals in the interim report, Mr Whitworth failed to observe the requirements of procedural fairness and exhibited actual or apprehended bias.A declaration that, in publishing the interim report, the Minister for Local Government, Ron Hoenig, Mr Whitworth and Kiersten Fishburn, the Secretary of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure exhibited actual bias or apprehended bias.An order setting aside the interim report.An order disqualifying the Minister Hoenig, Mr Whitworth and Ms Fishburn from taking any further steps in reporting on the results of the investigation.An order setting aside Minister Hoenig’s decision to appoint Mr Ross Glover as Commissioner to hold a public inquiry into Liverpool Council.

The Interim Report was removed from the Office of Local Government website yesterday afternoon, before the court case was heard.