Five Wise White Men

by Cat Holloway and Morgan Reade /

Mayor Patricia White has used her executive powers to personally appoint five private citizens to a Finance Review Committee (FRC) to investigate Shoalhaven Council’s books and strategise a way for the organisation to escape its deep debt.

But the move has intensified calls from angered ratepayers for the State Government to investigate Shoalhaven City Council (SCC) for politicising administration, lacking transparency and prioritising investor profits over services for residents.  

Mayor White and Deputy Mayor Wilkins succeeded in their surprise October 28 motion that dumped established guidelines for appointing community representatives to the FRC and instead immediately inserted five men - all aged over 60 and from similar cultural backgrounds - who had collaborated for almost a year with Mayor White and the Shoalhaven Independents Group (SIG) to establish their positions.

Cathy Law summed up public dissent in this comment on Facebook's public group Eye on Shoalhaven Council:

"I find this extraordinary. Why didn't these blokes run in the election if they wanted to sort things out? Totally inappropriate."

Who's on the committee?

On November 22, Mayor Patricia White announced the FRC as "an important step to ensure we are remaining transparent and listening to the community as we work towards addressing our financial challenges".

The committee includes five private citizens, Stuart Coughlan, Mark Crowther, Keith Brodie, Ian (Sandy) Foreman and Peter Dun, alongside Deputy Mayor Peter Wilkins, Cr Jason Cox (W1), Cr Jemma Tribe (W2), Cr Karlee Dunn (W3).

Mayor White did not explain in the announcement what "community consultation" took place, but she did specify that her five hand-picked members "submitted self-assessment statements declaring they are fit and proper applicants."

The backlash begins

At least three substantial, formal letters of complaint about the new Finance Review Committee have already been lodged with the Office of Local Government (OLG) and with the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) from community representatives opposing the need for the FRC, the process behind the panel's formation and the suitability of the selected advisors.

Spark is also aware of complaints sent directly to Mayor White and acting CEO James Ruprai, as well as to individual Shoalhaven Councillors.

Facebook's Eye on Shoalhaven Council administrator, Stephen Prothero, established a petition demanding transparency in committee appointments but supporting the concept and people involved, despite that Coughlan agreed that the five men were appointed to the committee not as individuals but as a "job lot".

"While there’s little doubt that the appointed members possess good intentions and skills, the concern lies with the way they were appointed," Prothero wrote.

"For instance, how were members chosen for interview, and what kind of consultation did the mayor conduct with the community?

"There appears to be a lack of clarity around who was involved, when these discussions occurred, and how they were carried out."

Ex-councillor John Kotlash called Prothero's summary "a generous interpretation of the facts" and predicted the committee was a "political game" for the Mayor to shift blame when "it all goes to poo".

"Economically, politically, they are the epitome of the Nowra business Elites," Kotlash said of the five FRC members appointed by Mayor White.

"They’re clearly people of good standing, but who do they represent? Rich white men.

"Need I remind the community it was the appeasement of the rich old white men, by the rich old white men party, the SIGs (Shoalhaven Independents), that got the Council into this mess?

"They will NOT recommend a pavement fee for business because they see it as Anti Business… they’d rather sell off a pool to another rich old white man.

"They will NOT adjust business rates to increase the share of rates revenue that businesses pay in the Shoalhaven to bring it into line with other Councils… because that would be a cost that largely falls on rich old white men.

"So I think we need to recognise their representation, the reasons they are there and ask the question about why they hadn’t bothered to slow the spending and debt when they had the room last time the SIGs were in charge." 

A brainchild all of their own

How Shoalhaven City Council’s Financial Review Panel was born raises serious questions about governance, transparency, and cronyism.

It also begs the question, what are Shoalhaven Council’s well-paid directors and accounting staff employed to do, if not examine and manage council money? 

In March, Council CEO Robyn Stevens received a request from a community member that an "independent community finance committee" be established. This was followed in April by another request of the same, claiming several Community Consultative Bodies (CCBs) supported the idea.

According to emails obtained by Spark, Stevens "politely" declined the offer, reasoning:

"We are in a crisis now so need to focus our finite resources to that critical task and do not have the capacity to establish, resource and support a new committee.   

Our new team within the executive and finance and needs to be provided with the opportunity to utilise their significant knowledge and expertise to address immediate issues and implement the recommendations of Council...

Independent monitoring and risk improvement is provided by our ARIC members who receive reports and provide advice and recommendations to the Council and Executive.   

The OLG is also fulfilling their oversight, performance monitoring and regulatory role to further ensure independence and monitoring functions are fulfilled.  

The incoming Council should be afforded the opportunity to determine what committees they would like to establish during their term of office." 

 As council election campaign engines revved up, the issue of creating a community finance committee sat front and centre on the SIG platform and was enthusiastically promoted by Mayoral candidate Patricia White - despite that she already identified herself as having a "top-level corporate finance background" with Barclays Bank.

On September 6, the day before pre-poll, the CCB Berry Forum secretary, Stuart Coughlan (now one of the five FRC community reps), wholly endorsed SIG and Patricia White for Mayor in an email to his personal contact list.

Coughlan also revealed that he and others had been "researching Council finances for the last nine months" and suggested that the new council could be "dismissed within a few months to make way for an administrator."

"As a former management accountant, I have been working with a small group of independent financial professionals reviewing Council's published accounts. What we have discovered is extremely disturbing."

"The alarming scale of Council's financial crisis has been caused by mismanagement of resources, not by the natural disasters as claimed.

"Several attempts by Patricia (White) and John Wells to question Council finances in Council meetings were also not supported as the other Councillors appear to have no understanding of the accounts.

"The choice for Mayor is clear. Only Patricia White has the experience and demonstrated understanding of Council's finances to be able to make the immediate tough decisions required for Council to have any hope of survival."

A week later, the day before the election and after rebuttals to Coughlan's claims circulated from outgoing Mayor Findley and others, Coughlan again emailed his list noting, apparently without any irony, that Patricia White had launched a defamation action against Amanda Findley.

"...the Greens and some candidates from other groups have conspired in a vicious campaign against Patricia White in an attempt to undermine public confidence in her financial acumen credentials.

"...Amanda Findley (a person I had previously respected) attempted a character assassination on Facebook, which included puerile taunts.

"...this attempt to sabotage Patricia's candidacy for Mayor was payback for the many awkward questions Patricia had asked in public meetings about the cause of Council's financial crisis.

 "I also received an email from Kaye Gartner, the Greens Mayoral candidate, which included comments on each of the financial issues I had listed in the email you received from me.

"If ever evidence was needed of the gross incompetence that caused the financial crisis, it was on full display in her email."

Neither Findley nor Gartner have taken legal action over Coughlan's email. 

Laying shaky foundations

The new council discussed the Financial Review Committee during their first ordinary meeting on October 14 and resolved to create a committee of councillors and community members to address Council’s financial problems.

Council also resolved to form a panel consisting of the CEO, CFO and Mayor to develop the Terms of Reference for the FRC then report back to the 28 October 2024 Council meeting for endorsement.

The Terms of Reference that were drawn up included guidelines for the appointment of community representatives to the panel, emphasising fairness, diversity and expertise, including:

- Demonstrated financial acumen
- Gender balance
- Representation from across Shoalhaven’s geographical area
- Cultural and age diversity
- Connection to the community

The guidelines also called for potential community candidates to submit an expression of interest for consideration by Council.

However, the October 28 motion, introduced without warning by Mayor Patricia White and supported by Deputy Wilkins, eliminated the expressions-of-interest process and gave the Mayor power to directly appoint panel members. 

It also allowed the panel to draft its own Terms of Reference, essentially throwing out the originally agreed-upon guidelines.

Councillor Tribe and others attempted to amend the motion, advocating for at least retaining the expressions-of-interest process for others to apply.

"We could have had anyone from across the city apply for this .. and give it a level of independence that it seems like it wouldn't get," Cr Matthew Norris said.

But Mayor White stridently refused to allow any further delays.

"I am not going to just bring my mates into this chamber or into this council to look at the financial sustainability of this council," she said.

The motion carried, empowering the Mayor - in consultation with the CEO and CFO - to directly appoint representatives and allow them to set their own ToR.

The Panel Takes Shape

On November 10, a (still not publicly named) group of five community members met and drafted new Terms of Reference for what they saw as the Finance Review Committee.

It is unknown where Mayor White was during that gathering, how the five were contacted and told to meet and how they intended to consult with the CEO. There was no record of the Mayor appointing these individuals in consultation with the CEO or CFO.

But by Tuesday, November 11, just before the scheduled council meeting, Shoalhaven Council CEO Robyn Stevens had resigned and was swiftly followed by Director Kerrie Hamilton.

Stevens has made no public comment about why she resigned from the top job and for how much recompense, despite widespread understanding that she had experienced long-term pressure from SIG leadership to depart. 

State Member for South Coast, Liza Butler, spoke on November 14 in parliament:

"This week, under mounting pressure, the CEO resigned and the public has no idea of what has taken place and why. The next day, the director of people and culture also resigned. Who will be next, and at what cost? ...(The new council) wasted money on a witch-hunt that has cost Shoalhaven ratepayers at least $307,000."

But Stuart Coughlan saw the situation differently and sent a starkly self-congratulatory letter on November 18 to several CCB representatives to clarify who was on the FRC and how it was formed.

"In September, Patricia committed to establishing a finance committee as part of her election platform.

 "Patricia was the only councillor who understood Council’s dire financial position and the urgent need to form the advisory committee.

"However, the CEO and the Director City Performance, Kerrie Hamilton (neither of whom demonstrated any understanding of finance), insisted that a lengthy bureaucratic selection process should be followed.

"On the Tuesday morning, both the CEO and Kerrie Hamilton resigned. We believe they perceived a group of experienced finance professionals would quickly expose inadequacies and poor decision-making."

Meanwhile, Mayor White had still not announced to the public the identities of her five appointed financial advisors. That would eventually happen on Friday, 22 November, almost two weeks after the Mayoral appointees had first met.

Adding to the opacity, the new Terms of Reference are still not officially published, further fuelling scepticism about the panel’s legitimacy and accountability.

Draft Terms of Reference obtained through a CCB website have serious flaws, with inaccurate referencing of Council resolutions and poorly defined processes.

Five Wise White Men

 In stark contrast to the recommended diversity guidelines, the panel appointees are all male, over 60, and from European backgrounds.  

The veterans amongst the group left the workforce almost 15 years ago, while others are ‘semi-retired’. They have private sector backgrounds in News Corp, a coal company, a defence company, company directorship and banking. None appear (on the minimal CVs) to have experience in public-sector financial management, which differs vastly from the private sector in terms of priorities, accountability, and regulatory frameworks.

Nevertheless, evidence exists that members of this group have been collaborating and strategising over Council finances, at least since late 2023. The inaugural output from the group's labours was released in January with a three-page document, distributed to all CCBs, summarising important facts and listing questions for Council regarding rate rises.

This was followed by an organised gathering of representatives from all CCBs at Tomerong Hall in March, to which no Councillors or Council staff were invited, to present findings of the group's analysis of Council's debt and outline their plans for fiscal salvation.

In a report back to his members, the President of the Kangaroo Valley CCB, Hugh Sinclair, wrote:

“I found some of the discourse to be rather, umm, interesting.

"Many were not representative of a particular CCB, but all were concerned with finding a solution to Council’s woes... at least one felt that he, and another, were the best placed people to lead Council out of the current malaise, and that he would listen to no argument against that.

"Another laid the problem firmly at the feet of Sussex St and the Greens headquarters, a statement that didn’t go down as smoothly as he might have liked.”

Democracy in action or conflict of interest?

Whatever conclusion you draw from all this, the appointment of these five wise white men to this committee was guaranteed the minute the Mayor took her oath.

With their collective lobbying to the broader CCBs and activities undermining confidence in Council staff, along with their personal support for the Mayor's political ambitions, the FRC is well on its way to achieving the immense influence long envisioned.

Any Mayor or Councillor who turns a blind eye or fails to notice such disregard for established guidelines, lack of diversity in representation, lack of transparency and the bypassing of genuine community engagement will inevitably attract questions about integrity.

Local council is not a constitutional level of the Australian government but (in NSW) part of the Department of Planning and Environment. It was created to empower communities to work for themselves, with elected councillors representing the needs of local constituents and protecting them from being dictated to by vested or non-local interests.

But what happens when those elected officials and vested interests work together to block or even oppose community engagement?

Is that just democracy in action? Or is it a dangerous conflict of interest? 

Democracy depends on the participation of every part of society. Shoalhaven’s new Financial Review Panel is a far cry from that. 

The public can submit comments, concerns and complaints about local council to the Office of Local Government's Feedback Form or, even better, email the Office of Local Government olg@olg.nsw.gov.au

The ICAC accepts complaints from the general public and public officials about corrupt conduct in the public sector.