REDLAND City Council will review a Crime and Corruption Commission report on culture and corruption risks in local government.
The report published this week followed the CCC’s investigation into Ipswich City Council.
One of the CCC’s four recommendations was that the Local Government Department investigate whether council-owned companies were needed.
The Redland City Council established a wholly-owned subsidiary Redland Investment Corporation in 2014 to identify alternative revenue sources and business opportunities.
Mayor Karen Williams said the report had been circulated within council.
“...It, along with recommendations regarding council controlled entities, will be reviewed to ensure we continue to meet the highest standards of transparency and accountability,” Cr Williams said.
”There are no councillors who sit on the RiC board.
“RiC is independently audited by the state government’s Queensland Audit Office and the audited financials are made public through council’s website.”
LNP leader Deb Frecklington has called on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to adopt all four recommendations in the CCC’s report.
The CCC states in its report that council-owned companies were not subject to the same level of transparency, oversight and accountability as council operations and local government employees.
“...As controlled entities are not classified as units of public administration, the CCC does not have the jurisdiction to investigate allegations involving these companies or the conduct of their directors,” the report said.
“The CCC investigation found that the use of controlled entities by the Ipswich City Council gave rise to a number of serious corruption risks and prevented the council from being fully transparent and accountable.”
The report said controlled entities were required to submit financial reports to the QAO but investigators had found in the case of Ipswich that the reports did not contain detailed or specific information to justify the level of expenditure.
It also said the entities were not subject to RTI requests because they were not classified as public administration units or government departments.
