Response to fiscal fiasco is unseemly and futile

The scramble by former Gosford councillors to distance themselves from the fiscal fiasco now being uncovered is as unseemly as it is futile.

To claim ignorance, to claim hoodwinking by dishonest servants or to claim inability to identify actions that would have led to earlier discovery is to admit to incompetence, since the main function of councillors is to control exactly the kind of aberrations finally revealed by a proper examination of the books.

What is needed now is a full investigation of staff members responsible for the mess and suitable sanctions against those identified, ranging from dismissal to, possibly, prosecution if malfeasance can be determined.

There is also a question of how auditors allowed this situation to develop over a period of years and of what steps can be taken to recover fees paid for work that was careless at best and, perhaps, worse than careless.

It is unbelievable that we are still paying large sums to these former councillors for advice on how to set up the new council.

Would anybody in his right mind take advice from them, when stupidity and inattention is the most charitable explanation for their actions, and when dereliction of duty is an entirely possible one?

If they had any shame, they would resign from their present positions and refund anything they have been paid: in fact, an appropriate return of fees they were paid as councillors, in recognition of their failure fully to earn their payments, would not be unthinkable.

I trust that none of them would have the temerity to offer him/herself as a candidate in September: one could picture that there might be a spike in the sale of rotten eggs and tomatoes in that event.

Email, 26 Mar 2017

Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy