South Perth mayor, councillor clash over figures from seven years ago
The City of South Perth mayor and a councilor are at odds over whether they can trust financial data going back seven years.
At the council’s April 28 meeting, the audit, risk and remediation committee was asked to approve a recommendation to add financial audit exit briefings from the Office of the Auditor General in 2019 and 2020.
The committee voted 6-1 to include them at a February workshop in response to allegations about the city’s past financial performance, saying “it was essential that only accurate information be brought to the table.”
At the committee meeting, Cr Stephen Russell’s motion to not include it because he had not had a chance to look at the data was lost 3-4.
The council voted 7-2 at its meeting to submit briefings presented at the audit, risk and remediation committee meeting in June.
Cr Tim Houweling was the sole dissenter of the committee’s decision and again spoke out against the inclusion of briefings at the council meeting.
He said he wanted to look at “everything” around them.
“Who did it, when did they do it, why did they do it… there are a lot of details I want to know about it if we’re going to go back that far,” Cr Houweling said.
“If we do that (include them), I will ask for every detail to better understand the circumstances of what happened in 2019 because maybe there is a history we need to understand.”
Mayor Greg Milner said Cr Houewling’s comments were inappropriate.
“I really don’t appreciate threats being made to this council to demand every document you can get your hands on,” he said.
Mr. Milner said the comments about the city’s past financial performance were “absolutely not supported by historical evidence.”
“Without really strong evidence for that, I think it could be high risk to table a report that contains comments that challenge the accuracy of the reports approved by the OAG,” he said.
Cr Houweling twice tried to ask Acting CEO Anita Amprimo if she knew anyone who had suggested or criticized the auditor general’s 2019 report, but Mr Milner did not allow them.
“You are doing this on irrelevant issues and creating a straw man and misleading scenario,” Mr Milner said.
“I disagree. Can I ask the chief executive?” Cr Houweling replied.
Mr Milner said: “You are not the chairman, Cr Houweling. I did not allow that question. Please continue with a different question.”
Last year Mr Milner praised: improvement in the city’s financial performance He scored his second over after seven successive deficits.
The city’s 2023-24 financial health indicator was 87 out of 100, down from a high of 97 in 2014-15, but well above the 51 recorded in 2017-18, when losses of $3.35 million were recorded.
