CEO: Ways and Means
The second press conference with Shoalhaven Council's Mayor and CEO started off discussing 52 job cuts, but ended up with a call to investigate Councillor corruption and media collusion.
by Cat Holloway
Long-time Radio 2st host, Graeme Day, revealed that he yesterday submitted documents to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) accusing some Shoalhaven Councillors of leaking confidential information to a local "group in the media trying to destabilise this Council."
The extraordinary claims were made during a media interview session at Council in which Mayor Patricia White and new CEO Andrew Constance aimed to present details surrounding 17 employee redundancies from Council's register as of next Monday, October 27.
Another 35 'disestablished' roles have already been vacated. Twelve new full time positions will be created in the restructure plan that the CEO signed last Friday as part of the organisation's attempts to achieve financial sustainability.
The restructure will eventually deliver about $3.5 million in savings, but Mr Constance declined to provide details on the immediate redundancy payout costs.
Fruitful discussion on a range of related topics, took a sharp turn into controversial new territory when Radio 2st's Mr Day, well-known for his right-leaning politics, asked the Mayor and CEO to investigate conspiratorial activity he claimed was a serious issue.
"The community want somebody to hook into whoever's doing it because its no good for anyone," Mr Day said.
Illuminating further tensions between Council leadership and the State and Federal MPs, Liza Butler and Fiona Phillips, the Mayor and CEO announced a new Council policy blocking both MPs from directly contacting any Council staff other than the CEO.
This communications mandate will likely irritate Butler and Phillips and add to the workload of the CEO, Andrew Constance, who also established a new direct line of reporting to his office from two non-managerial roles, the Senior Economic Development Officer and the Tourism Marketing Specialist.
"For instance, if we want to have dealings with the defence sector, which is only natural given we have two bases, and we want to attract more defensive industries and participants to the Shoalhaven...I want to ensure that the economic development manager is front and centre in terms of how we showcase the Shoalhaven to industry," Mr Constance said.
But it was Mr Day's claims that hijacked the press conference. Day would not specify which Councillors or media organisations were the subject of his suspicions, but he told Spark he had sought an ICAC investigation.
Journalists attending the meeting, (from ABC Illawarra, South Coast Register and Spark) denied publishing material that compromised individual privacy, and questioned Mr Day's and the Mayor's allegations of multiple privacy breaches.
Mr Constance repeated his "zero tolerance policy" on leaks from staff or Councillors and vowed he would use whatever "ways and means" were at his disposal to uncover the culprits.
Spark called that language dictatorial and in conflict with Mr Constance's stated commitment to improve staff morale, protect individual privacy and promote transparency.
But Constance disagreed it was an overreach or an overreaction.
As you can hear in this audio clip, I found Mr Day's twist in the narrative bizarre, at best. Worse, it smacked of one openly politically biased media identity seeking to have his opponents - or any other critics of Council - silenced or censored.
"If people are going to be destructive then I have means available to me to pursue that and I won't hesitate," Andrew Constance, SCC CEO
So, what began as a reasonable attempt with journalists to achieve constructive conversation about Shoalhaven Council staff changes, ended up a shambles of political sniping.
Meanwhile, behind the social media barricades, grenades are flying between Cr Selena Clancy (with Shoalhaven Independent Group supporters Jacqui Burke, Maureen Ruiz, Ken Barr and Shelley Hancock) over the work and previous Federal Police career of local government blogger, Stephen Prothero, with his growing Eye on Shoalhaven Council Facebook network.
Community commentary has turned into Internet warfare with the threat that police and lawyers will be called to intervene.
Among recent Eye on Shoalhaven posts is a public petition for Mayor Patricia White to be censured over her role in the selection of ex-Liberal politician Andrew Constance as Shoalhaven Council's new CEO.
A preliminary Office of Local Government investigation into that process is underway.
Mr Prothero has also reported on Council's staff restructure, yesterday afternoon publishing the CEO's internal letter to staff outlining the changes, with names redacted but with no explanation of how he accessed that letter.
LISTEN: Key press conference moments (Oct 20)
Mayor Patricia White on the process to decide on redundancies and respond to a community petition over the Ulladulla Civic Centre management.
"There'll still be a booking officer in Ulladulla who will be able to do all the work at the Civic Centre."
Andrew Constance on hardship to staff plus the tourism and development focus of Council for financial resilience in the face of natural disasters or other pressures.
"We made it crystal clear...that we wanted to put greater emphasis on economic development so that we can broaden our revenue capacity when we are seeing, quite literally, well in excess of 900 DAs coming into the Council every year.
Constance on the future of environmental services in Council. Mayor White denies that her party's promise to reverse the Green priorities of the previous council played a role in the removal of the Environmental Services Manager position.
"We are on the cusp of commissioning a materials recycling facility which is going to showcase the circular economy. We will continue to enhance our wonderful environment which is so important to this region."
Constance says any criticism of council staff should come to him. Alongside calls for respect and trust, he said he was unhappy about a leak of internal information.
"I've got a zero tolerance in relation to leaking and I have means and ways to follow that through. We are under SafeWork notification right now."
Mayor White explains why Labor's $40m road funding is yet to materialise.
"It was a bureaucratic nightmare, just because we had an election promise. Don't get me wrong, we need the funding for the roads."
Mayor White and Andrew Constance announce that State and Federal MPs will no longer have access to Council staff and all their enquiries must go via the CEO. The Mayor claimed:
"The direction actually came from Minister Ron Hoenig."
Shoalhaven Council CEO Andrew Constance Confirms Job Losses
(SCC Press Release, Monday, October 20)
Today’s decision will see 52 positions disestablished - most of which are vacant - and create new roles aligned with operational needs and regulatory requirements.
This decision builds on the changes introduced in December 2024, which reduced the number of directorates from six to four, cut two executive roles, and realigned several departments.
Mr Constance praised staff for their commitment to the work during this time of uncertainty and said he was focussed on providing a clear direction for the future.
“I take the welfare of our staff very seriously and I know that job losses will have a deep personal impact on our people,” Mr Constance said.
“It is a difficult but necessary step to ensure the long-term stability of our organisation and our ability to continue serving our community.
“The disestablishment of roles is not a reflection of anyone’s performance, but the result of the financial position we find ourselves in and now must manage responsibly. My priority is to ensure that the process is handled with the utmost care and respect.
“I want this to be a re-set for the organisation and I’m committed to working closely with our leadership team to ensure our workplace is one where people feel valued, supported, and empowered.
“While change is difficult, today marks a turning point so that we can all focus on delivering the projects and services that the community want and need.”
Mayor Patricia White said she’d been elected on a platform to get Council’s finances back in the black and despite staff’s staunch efforts to reduce costs and raise revenue where possible, unfortunately more action was needed.
As part of that feedback and with a focus on economic development, a full-time Bookings Officer role has been approved at the Ulladulla Function Centre. In addition, the Senior Economic Development Officer role and the Tourism Marketing Specialist role will both report directly to the CEO.
The new organisational structure is designed to simplify, centralise and streamline operations to ensure long-term financial sustainability and will be implemented on Monday 27 October 2025.
