Mud sticks.
This week’s decision to clear the names of former Logan City councillors raises a lot of questions.
The only objective conclusion anybody can come to is that former councillors have in no way breached their legal responsibilities while in their elected positions.
If that’s the case, it would seem they have paid a high price for doing nothing wrong.
They lost their jobs, they suffered significant reputational damage, in some cases they suffered financial hardship, and most of us won’t know of the psychological impact this has had on them and their families.
Regardless of what the CCC found or didn’t find during their raids on council, the poring over documents, the interviews and the legal or political summations, there are a number of people who will likely never be held to account at the end of this process.
Investigating officers and those to whom they reported have indicated that issues of cultural concern were prevalent during their research, but nothing they felt was strong enough to continue pursuing through the courts.
Sadly, what that means is that the true cultural state of our council will remain behind closed doors.
And those investigating officers will never be in a position to share publicly the detail of what they saw, discussed or found – something they could have done by arguing their case securely with the protection of the court.
Senior bureaucrats are often the ones put in charge of change – people who directly advise those who were sacked by the state government for indiscretions and allegations which no longer exist, at least in the eyes of the law.
Under administration, the direction was clear – build robust systems which prevent misconduct or corruption within an elected council. Build systems which enable transparent and collaborative governance.
The problem is, and always will be, that politicians are often demanding. Bureaucrats are often accommodating. After all, jobs, reputations and egos are on the line.
Whatever those systems are that we are relying on to ensure good governance, they will requires bureaucrats brave enough to hold elected representatives to account, and a CEO brave enough to manage those who don’t.
After last week, we are left to question how clean the system really has become – or indeed how dirty it was in the first place, and how deeply engrained the cultural issues really are.
