Council staff dubbed the ‘Pink Ops’ allegedly promoted friends, NSW anti-corruption watchdog hears | Independent Commission Against Corruption
An anti-corruption investigation in New South Wales is investigating whether three friends who held powerful positions on a council in western Sydney and called themselves “Pink Operations” subverted recruitment and promotion processes to benefit their friends.
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) held its first day of public hearings on Monday into allegations against Parramatta council’s former chief executive Gail Connolly, as well as council employees Roxanne Thornton and Angela Jones-Blayney and other staff.
In his opening statement, counsel assisting Joanna Davidson SC said the three women were part of a group that previously worked together at Ryde council and called itself “Pink Ladies”, “Pink Operations” or “Pops”. Its name was “a pun on the term Black Ops”.
“The group attended social events together, including dinners and weekends away, and kept in touch via WhatsApp, with conversations containing thousands of messages continuing after their period of working together.”
Davidson claimed the evidence would show that “this close network, maintained over many years, formed the background to key decisions subsequently taken in Parramatta”.
Icac is investigating whether Connolly and other staff carried out targeted electronic surveillance and investigated staff for retaliation, including dismissal.
Connolly was appointed chief executive in March 2023. Davidson claimed the unsuccessful attempt to have the council reconsider his appointment through a motion to revoke “marked an early line between staff perceived as supporters of the new CEO and those perceived as opponents”.
“This was a split that allegedly influenced both scrutiny and retaliation later,” the lawyer said.
Davidson said the evidence would show the possibility of a “broader objective” to create staff vacancies aligned with Connolly and later Thornton and Jones-Blayney, who were “personally loyal to, and in some cases personally associated with, Ms Connolly”.
Davidson said Connolly’s appointment included “significant questions” about the hiring process in hiring Thornton and Jones-Blayney, as well as other members of the “Pink Ops” group.
Davidson said relationships in local government during Connolly’s tenure were “not inherently problematic” but they were “not always managed with transparency, appropriate boundaries and disclosure of conflicts of interest.”
He said this included Connolly’s alleged preference for using personal email accounts and “avoiding putting everything in writing” to prevent them from being disclosed through freedom of information requests.
The inquest heard the “position of trust” between Connolly and Thornton was that, during their time working at Georges River council, they had a jointly controlled Facebook profile under a name belonging to neither of them to comment on matters relating to the council.
Davidson claimed that Connolly wrote Thornton’s signature on the document as a witness for his own signature at a time when Connolly was “in a hurry to sign his employment contract in the city of Parramatta” when Thornton was not present.
Davidson claimed Connolly helped appoint Thornton to Parramatta council, first as chief governance and risk officer and then to the permanent group executive position in the mayor and CEO’s office.
This included removing the key requirement that the chief administrative officer have a law degree, Icac heard on Monday.
Davidson alleged that after Thornton began working at the council, she assisted Connolly with a restructure “which involved a future position of the type that Ms Thornton would later occupy as a group manager” and arranged for her to be seconded to the role, which she took up on a permanent basis in February 2024.
Davidson said the investigation would also examine the alleged assistance Connolly provided during his nephew’s appointment to the role of senior executive assistant at the council last year.
The investigation will examine whether the former CEO and other staff misused public funds to facilitate the departure of city staff through “letters of release.”
In July last year The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the council It spent $5.2 million to lay off 81 staff between January 2022 and May 2025. Later that month, the council raided by corruption watchdog.
Parramatta council voted to sack Connolly in October last year. Connolly has denied any wrongdoing.
Guardian Australia referred questions to Thornton and Jones-Blayney through Parramatta Council. A spokesman said the council would have no comment while the investigation was ongoing.
The investigation, overseen by Icac chief commissioner John Hatzistergos, is expected to hold public hearings over four weeks.
