After 18 years of community service, Mr Craig Doyle, former Gosford Deputy Mayor and the independent councillor formerly known as the ‘road warrior’, will not stand for election to the Central Coast Council.
Mr Doyle said he was particularly “downhearted” about the negative campaigns being waged by some individuals who are running for election to the new council.
Mr Doyle said the Price Waterhouse Coopers’ external audit of the Gosford Council financial accounts for the 2015-16 financial year had not uncovered any wrong-doing by the previous Gosford Council.
“Some people would call it a stunt,” Mr Doyle said, referring to inaccurate reports that money was missing from the accounts of the former Gosford Council.
When the draft financial reports were released by Central Coast Council in March, they reported that “due to control issues identified in the preparation of the reports, council was unable to fully attest to the completeness and accuracy of the balances contained within the income statement and classifications of equity within the financial reports”.
Those control issues were related to the Civica Authority Enterprise Software Suite for Local Government which, according to Mr Doyle, has been used extensively by local councils since its implementation in 1994.
The preparation of the 2015-16 accounts revealed, according to Central Coast Council CEO, Mr Rob Noble, that a limited number of officers and vendors were able to script changes, deletions or additions into the financial tables contained within the financial system without any audit control reporting or audit trail.
At the time, Mr Noble said he did not have evidence that any unauthorised changes had been made, but nor did he have evidence that changes had not been made.
As a result, he referred the issue to unnamed “third parties” and stated that he could not comment on whether or not they would investigate further.
Mr Doyle said “Absolutely and unequivocally no” when asked whether he had been approached by any third party about the finances of the former Gosford Council.
“I pressed Mr Noble in Local Representation Committee meetings about this issue,” Mr Doyle said.
“I asked was there any indication of anything of a criminal nature and Mr Noble said no,” he said.
“I asked if there had been any evidence of misappropriation and Mr Noble said no.
“He did say he had forwarded on issues to third parties but I have not been approached by any third party for any reason at any time,” he said.
Mr Doyle said he was also concerned that the write down of asset values had been misreported.
“In any corporate takeover, the first thing you do is write down the value of the company’s assets, that is good management,” he said.
“The accounting process has shown that there is nothing wrong and the audited figures are echoing that.
“If, by chance, Price Waterhouse Coopers had found something untoward or inaccurate, the community would potentially be able to sue the previous auditors.
“The process has made it quite clear that there is nothing to report, no misappropriation and no inaccurate numbers, but the victor always gets to write the history,” Mr Doyle said.
The Price Waterhouse Coopers “sign-off” of the Gosford financial reports, according to Mr Doyle, was just “an out, but there is nothing wrong; there are comments on the potentiality that people could have made changes but they haven’t said it happened.”
According to Mr Doyle, the amalgamation has been a takeover of Gosford Council by Wyong Council.
“There is not a single senior executive from Gosford Council left and the managers [Mr Doyle said around 40 management positions] have all gone.
“All the senior positions have gone to employees of the former Wyong Council, so the Administrator and CEO may say they’ve done an extensive, Australian-wide recruitment process on paper, but all the positions have gone to former Wyong people.
“The way the wards have been structured, nine out of the 15 councillors will be from the former Wyong LGA,” he said.
Mr Doyle said he did not believe the amalgamation would be a success, and that elected representatives would make very little difference, because the process and structures already put in place were wanting.
“There are already signs that this new council could be the gangly animal some thought it might be,” he said, pointing to the size of the budget, departments, the geographical area and the lack of representation.
“Community groups are seething at the moment due to their frustration that decisions are being made without any community consultation.
“I am not bagging the Administrator or the CEO, they have been given a task and they are doing it to the best of their ability I have no doubt, but the State Government will have a lot to answer for,” he said.
Source:
Interview, Jun 13
Craig Doyle, former Gosford Deputy Mayor
Jackie Pearson, journalist