MALFEASANCE 101 (The WACCC does Dowerin.)

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, unless it is the Western Australian Corruption and Crime Commission. It has no jurisdiction over any government elected officials’ minor misconduct, yet it still chose to provide a copy of the ‘Report on a Matter of Governance at the Shire of Dowerin’ to both Houses of the WA Parliament.

The WACCC and the WA Premier do not sing in harmony from anywhere near the same page so the WACCC had no hesitation in reproducing, in the report, an underlying, basically contemptuous view of the Local Government Act 1995, and on the Department of Local Government’s administrative non-capabilities, and at the same time- try to give the Premier the shits.

It had no problem in publishing the fact that the Department of Local Government’s Prince of Probity, Brad Jolly, said that rural shires in particular have deeply embedded weaknesses in structure and proceeded to call a rural Shire Council ‘Mendicant’. The meaning of which is highly insulting –‘beggars, tramps, vagrants, vagabonds and bums’ are all mendicants. Jolly could have been more complementary by saying ‘relying on the finances of others’ but chose to call it as he sees it which is like the pot calling the kettle black.

The 52-page report on Dowerin is York revisited.    

Forrest Gump said that ‘life is just a box of chocolates’ and, although he was not the sharpest tool in the shed, in some cases it is.

The WA Local Government chocolate box is filled with $1.9 billion in annual rates revenue and $282 million in Local Government Grants Commission funding. You can add to that borrowing from the WA Treasury Department at the cheapest interest rates in town with no hard-to-answer questions asked- like what is the loan actually for. (Conversely the ‘Big Four Banks’ consider providing rural loans as like investing in a leper colony.)

Such a vault full of potential play money attract shysters like Dowerin’s, Dacre Alcock, (and way too many others) like bees to a giant money-honey pot left unprotected by some Shire Councillors with a breathtaking level of ignorance of their role and responsibility over the Chief Executive Officer and divorced from any personal financial duty of care to ratepayers.

It is a Willy Wonka non-compliance wonderland ripe for unleashing insidious, undetected corruption by public officers assisted by the fact that Council financial stupidity is considered just a minor misconduct, and that having to learn to be a councillor will never be mandatory as long as your derriere points downwards.

Or if the Labor Party gets in- maybe shortly after the next election, also with the potential for ‘fat-cat’ bureaucrats like Jennifer Matthews and Brad Jolly of the Department of Local Government to enter the vast ranks of the unemployed.

To add a helping hand to fiscal malpractice, the 2015 government amendment to the Corruption, Crime and Misconduct Act, 2003 ensures that neither the WA Corruption and Crime Commission and the Public Sector Commission can investigate nefarious minor misconduct by any Elected Official, including Local Government Councillors and Members of Parliament.

This is not the opinion of humble journalists- but mostly that of the state’s corruption watchdog (aka Chihuahua) the WA Corruption and Crime Commission.

So how was the Dowerin saga allowed to happen? You may well ask!

No! It is not all to do with much maligned council members being breathtakingly ignorant and councils suffering from statutory stupidity as part of the CCC conclusions may infer. Although one councillors comment that he was confident in his local government knowledge because he had never been broke in 50-years does not overload anyone with supreme confidence.

Many councillors apparently still feel that they bear no responsibility for personally being involved in scrutinizing their CEO’s financial records for credit card use compliance. They may feel that, as they are not allowed to interfere with the day-to-day operations of the CEO and his staff, why should they?!

They appear to consider their role to be the oversight of what is reported to them by their CEO.

Shire CEO’s have two magic words ’operational matters’ that allow them to be as Machiavellian, malevolent, malicious, mischievous and mal-administrative as they like. And politely tell councillors to ‘piss-off’ while they are doing it.

Then they can happily have a permanent loan of municipal monies to take faux work trips, munch on gourmet meals, slurp decent wines and burp in the best accommodation they can find.  Then the next step is to have $100 each way on the first at Ascot or seek a paper bag of cash from a local property developer by turning a Local Government Principle into a convenient Guideline. There are really no adequate checks and balances to prevent this.

It is suggested in the report that Dacre Alcock had excessive powers exacerbated by the Local Government Act, 1995. 
Alcock had complete control over the Shire of Dowerin’s financial management system and everything else for that matter. Sound Familiar?

Alcock chose a staff member who had no qualifications and little experience as Finance Manager, then took over the role himself. Sound familiar? 

Alcock hid the use of his Corporate Credit Card from any form of financial oversight. ( Once again this sounds familiar, but in the case of Ray Hooper, public disclosure of credit card statements was deliberately withheld by the then Shire President, Pat Hooper, with the agreement of Council  and the kind assistance of the Department of Local Government.

And Alcock was considered to be lazy. Sound familiar?

So what would have gone a long way to prevent the Dowerin disaster?

In 2008 the Minister for Local Government and his department were inundated with complaints from the York community regarding what Ray Hooper used his Corporate Credit Card for. Then- questioned why, with the approval of Council, was he allowed to hide these transactions from public scrutiny. His expenditure over a ten-year period was well in excess of $200,000.

Ray Hooper then openly, with the blessing of Council, rid himself of staff who he did not like and gradually surrounded himself with mainly female, senior Local Government Officer Acolytes.

These officers did not have the relevant qualifications and sufficient experience to undertake their duties in the best interest of ratepayers and the community at large. Both the Minister and the Department of Local Government were made well aware of this fact.

Hooper made these staff appointments to ensure that he had complete control, in fact excessive control, over every facet of the Shire of York’s administration. (To this end he was strongly supported by a mainly sycophantic and thereby ‘approving’ council for much of his tenure.)

Dacre Alcock was appointed as CEO of the Shire of Dowerin in 2008 at the same time as the numerous complaints were being launched to the appropriate authorities regarding Ray Hooper’s use of his Shire’s Corporate Credit Card.

In early 2011, Ray Hooper appointed a Deputy CEO with no relevant qualifications and insufficient experience. In 2011, Dacre Alcock, appointed a Finance Manager with no relevant qualifications and insufficient experience. Both were women and one was definitely made to feel inferior in her role.

In 2011, Alcock began his criminal career involving 665 stealing charges at around $1000 per credit card transaction, resulting in a four and a half year jail sentence, with over $600,000 stolen,  including associated financial damage.

The parallels between York and Dowerin are obvious and the reasons are obvious, insufficient governance, lack a demand for financial transparency and placing untrained staff in positions where they could be coerced, manipulated or bullied into inaction or inappropriate actions. York had the addition of some compliant, rather than just plain ignorant Councillors.

Will the WACCC report change anything? Hardly likely as there are too many vested interests ranging from the WA Local Government Association, The Local Government Managers Association, then lawyers and auditors, to local government planners and visioning/ideation gurus.

For a grip on a fist full of dollars, and a few dollars more, they will all fight to hang around this $2.2 billion Local Government chocolate box.

David Taylor.

Go to Link:   Report on a Matter of Governance at the Shire of Dowerin