The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has published 31 corruption prevention recommendations for Burwood Council and other New South Wales local governments.

 

The recommendations were made after the ICAC filed 17 corrupt conduct charges against the Burwood Council general manager.

 

The ICAC has identified a range of internal council issues as contributing factors to corruption in local government, such as:

  • Deficiencies in policies and internal control systems
  • Lack of internal auditing systems
  • Gaps in complaint handling
  • Lack of councillor knowledge of their authority

 

The Commission's corruption prevention recommendations include that the NSW Division of Local Government be authorised through legislative amendment to require NSW councils to adopt policy and practice considered to be of state-wide significance by the Division's Chief Executive. The ICAC also recommends that the NSW Minister for Local Government seeks legislative amendment to the Local Government Act 1993 to establish internal audit for local authorities as a statutory function.

 

The ICAC found that corruption can lead to serious damage in public confidence in government, lead to miscarriages of justice through preferential treatment and waste public resources and money.

 

Since May 2010, the ICAC has investigated corruption claims against five New South Wales councils.

 

The full report is available here.