Moreton Bay Regional Council has removed from its website all information about its controversial outsourcing deal with a financial backer of its mayor and other councillors - its biggest single procurement - but refuses to say why.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It comes as a national expert on public sector ethics and governance raised serious questions about the deal, some aspects of which are the subject of an investigation by the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission, saying the situation “smells”.
Queensland local government regulations require councils to publish details of all contracts worth more than $200,000.
Until September 19, the council’s website showed it had entered a three-year deal in 2016 with local businessman Shane Newcombe’s company Moreton Bay Region Industry and Tourism to run council events and promote tourism worth $6.7 million.
In fact, the deal was renewed and extended in May this year, reportedly making it worth $3.8 million a year for the next five years, or more than $20 million in total. These updated details have never been officially disclosed, but as of September 19, even the limited information previously advertised on the council’s website has been removed.
The CCC is investigating the circumstances of the deal’s renewal in May, a decision delegated to the council’s chief executive after seven councillors declared minor conflicts of interest.
None of the five councillors who had received campaign donations from Mr Newcombe’s family company Newcombes Holdings in the 2012 and 2016 local elections disclosed this.
Moreton Bay Regional Council refused to answer questions about the change to its website, with a spokesman providing the same response it has provided to all of Fairfax Media’s enquiries about its dealings with MBRIT and Mr Newcombe.
“Council understands that the CCC is currently investigating a complaint from a ratepayer,” the spokesman said.
“With an investigation underway, it’s not appropriate for council to comment further.”
Fairfax Media last month revealed Mr Newcombe had been secretly coached on how to win the outsourcing contract by mayor Allan Sutherland and a small group of councillors, all of whom received campaign donations from Mr Newcombe’s family.
A key adviser to the mayor who has been closely associated with the MBRIT deal is the council’s head of strategy and engagement Corinne Mulholland, a friend of Mr Newcombe’s. She this month stepped aside from her job to concentrate on campaigning for the federal seat of Petrie for the ALP.
Professor Richard Mulgan, a leading expert on public sector ethics and governance at the Australian National University, said the council’s dealings with MBRIT showed a serious lack of transparency.
Fairfax Media revealed last month that council staff, under direction, had given Mr Newcombe large quantities of confidential council documents in 2016 to help him finesse his bid to win the contract, which was lawfully awarded without a tender.
Council insiders also described a secret meeting in the week before Mr Newcombe made his final pitch to the full Council, at which the mayor, chief executive Daryl Hitzman and a small group of councillors coached Mr Newcombe on how to win over the other councillors.
Professor Mulgan said Mr Hitzman had should have informed those people deciding on the deal.
“I think that’s the shocking thing. It’s not transparent,” Professor Mulgan said.
“So even if there are no competitive bids, it’s all the more incumbent, I think on the council or whoever it is, the bureaucrats, to make sure that every stage is transparent.”
Councillors and council staff who questioned the lack of a competitive tender said they were told there was no other company that could do the work. The law does not require any tender in those circumstances.
“All these things are subject to exceptions but I think this smells," Professor Mulgan said.
