Ristevski also moved a motion, which was also not debated, at a March meeting seeking advice from Hoenig about whether Mannoun should remain as spokesperson for the council during the public inquiry.
Mannoun was absent from the full meeting of council on March 26, prompting Ristevski to remark to the Herald this week that the mayor had “basically abandoned” the council.
Mannoun, who attended council events including citizenship ceremonies last week, said he had missed the March 26 meeting because it was the last few days of Ramadan and he wasn’t feeling well.
“I wouldn’t be the first mayor to miss a meeting,” he said.
Ristevski and Mannoun declined to comment on the code of conduct complaints. Mannoun said on Friday the “overwhelming majority of councillors work within the code of conduct framework”.
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The report to the council’s March meeting said there had been 67 code of conduct complaints against councillors since September 1, shortly before the new council was elected, compared to five in 2023-24. The council had averaged four or five complaints each year in the five years prior.
“The numbers of code of conduct complaints received to date in 2024-25 are much higher than in previous years. They already represent an order of magnitude increase compared to the entirety of the previous period,” general counsel David Galpin said in the report.
Fourteen of the complaints were under investigation, 24 had been referred to external reviewers and 23 were being assessed by the governance team. Four were declined.
The report did not name which councillors were the subject of complaints, nor whether any breaches had been found. It would be likely to take council staff until July to process them, at an estimated cost of $346,386.
A council spokesman said it took alleged breaches of the code of conduct seriously, and they were treated in accordance with the requirements of the Local Government Act.
The report said the council had referred the current complaints to the Office of Local Government and asked the agency to investigate them due to concerns they were imposing an “undue and disproportionate cost burden” on staff and impeding the effective functioning of the council.
Minister for Local Government Ron Hoenig said allegations at Liverpool Council were “the worst I’ve seen”.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
An Office of Local Government spokeswoman said the agency would “not be stepping in to pick up matters that Liverpool Council should be managing as required under the Local Government Act”.
The Minns government last year announced a public inquiry into the council, following a damning Office of Local Government investigation which found evidence of widespread dysfunction in staffing, financial management, development assessments and regulatory probity.
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Barrister Ross Glover was appointed to lead the inquiry.
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