Kids, don't send sensitive emails from your work account...

But seriously, it sounds like Parramatta City Council was a seriously toxic work environment.

"Former Parramatta Council boss Gail Connolly has admitted to lying to the lord mayor and was accused of sending a false report to the corruption watchdog, as her appearance at an anti-corruption inquiry came to an end.

"On Connolly’s seventh and final day as a witness at the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the sacked Parramatta chief executive was accused of “historical revisionism” as she explained the reason she sent an anonymous email she wrote purporting to expose fraud and corruption at the council.

"Under cross-examination from the council’s barrister, Arthur Moses, SC, Connolly was asked about an email sent to the lord mayor at the time, who asked if she had seen the anonymous email. She told the mayor she had not.

"'You lied to the lord mayor,' Moses asked.

"'That’s correct.'

"Connolly was also accused of lying to the ICAC when she referred concerns to the watchdog about “fraud and corruption” by former staffer turned council candidate Justin Mulder. Moses said she misled the ICAC in several ways, including that she did not identify herself as the author of the anonymous email.

"The ICAC’s public inquiry had been slated for four weeks but stretched into week six. It is investigating whether former Parramatta staff members, central among them Connolly, misused public funds by having staff leave through deeds of release (agreements made between staff and the council upon a departure), subverted the council’s recruitment and other processes, disclosed confidential information to third parties, and spied on staff and a councillor.
...
"Moses accused Connolly of trying to use the anonymous email to undermine Mulder’s campaign for the council, and to drive a wedge between him and councillor Kellie Darley. Connolly denied this.

"Moses asked if the email was designed to undermine his candidacy given his position on the council could have attempted the make-up of votes in the event of a plan to terminate her employment; Connolly denied this.

"Moses then asked what Connolly meant on Tuesday when she claimed Darley had been working in “collaboration” with The Sydney Morning Herald (in fact, Connolly said there was “collusion”).
...
"Connolly later said she had all City of Parramatta email accounts, including those of councillors and 1200 employees, searched by the council’s IT department in an effort to find if anyone had been leaking information to the Herald. She agreed she did not inform councillors of the search before conducting it."

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/icac-operation-navarra-live-sacked-parramatta-council-ceo-faces-cross-examination-20260617-p607gs.html

#auspol #politics #Parramatta #nsw #australia #workplace #LocalGovernment #Government