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NationalNSWICAC

‘Pink Ops’ and ‘potential threats’: ICAC inquiry into Parramatta Council hears evidence of alleged misconduct

Anthony Segaert and Ellie Busby
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

CEO ‘very cold’, ‘angry’ in first meeting
What we learnt this morning
CEO monitored emails, Teams messages, Davidson says
News articles led to ‘atmosphere of paranoia’
Trio went on holiday together, called themselves ‘Pink Ladies’: Davidson
Who’s who in the inquiry

Everything you need to know from day one

By Anthony Segaert and Ellie Busby

The former chief executive of the City of Parramatta council has been accused of improperly accessing an elected councillor’s emails, targeting staff she perceived as threats, obstacles or disloyal, and other misconduct that benefited herself, friends and associates.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption on Monday heard Gail Connolly, who was sacked from the council in October last year, was part of a trio of council executives called the “Pink Ladies” and “Pink Ops” – a reference to the term “black ops” – alongside colleagues Angela Jones-Blayney and Roxanne Thornton. They had both worked with Connolly at Ryde and Georges River councils.

On the first day of the ICAC’s public hearings into Operation Navarra, counsel assisting Joanna Davidson SC alleged the trio holidayed together, sent thousands of WhatsApp messages, and subverted recruitment and promotion processes to favour their friends and associates.

“Those relationships were not always managed with appropriate transparency, proper boundaries and disclosure of conflicts of interest that proper public administration requires,” Davidson told the commission.

First day of hearing ends with appearance from Connolly’s lawyer

By Anthony Segaert

The first day’s hearing has now concluded.

It ended with an appearance from Connolly’s lawyer, Andrew Pickles SC. He is seeking to cross-examine Cavanagh, the HR witness we heard from today.

There’s been some discussion about what is preferable here. Cavanagh has been asked to return tomorrow.

Connolly used employee father’s death as reason for exit, inquiry hears

By Anthony Segaert

Cavanagh, the former HR boss, is being taken through emails she sent to Connolly after she agreed to sign a deed and leave the organisation. Part of the signed deed was an agreement on communication about her exit.

On the final negotiation of her exit, the pair talked about Cavanagh’s preferred message that she was “leaving for a combination of personal and professional reasons”.

“As I exited the room, Ms Connolly said to me: ‘And don’t forget your father, if we keep the consistent message to you leaving for your father’.

“I turned back to her and I said, ‘This is not about my father. We will not make it about my father’ … It was very important to me that my father not be used as a reason why I would leave a job I loved.”

Cavanagh later became aware that Connolly had told staff at a leadership forum Cavanagh left the council “because of the tragic circumstances of my father”, she says. She did not hear Connolly say this and could not recall who told her.

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‘Do you want a redundancy?’

By Ellie Busby and Anthony Segaert

Cavanagh momentarily broke down in tears while giving evidence, detailing the stress she says she experienced during Connolly’s early tenure.

In her first regular one-on-one with Connolly, Cavanagh said she recalled Connolly asking: “Do you want a redundancy?”

Cavanagh was “shocked, not surprised” by the question.

She responded, according to her testimony: “If it’s only going to happen in three months, just do it now”, regarding the termination of her contract.

“I also told her at the time that I couldn’t deal with the stress,” she said, as she began to cry. “I told her I couldn’t deal with the stress of losing my father and my job at the same time.”

Cavanagh was told she had “a target on her back” by both a current and a former City of Parramatta employee.

“I had been told by two parties that I had a target on my back, and I didn’t want to put myself through three months of hell.”

CEO ‘very cold’, ‘angry’ in first meeting

By Ellie Busby

We’re now hearing about Cavanagh’s first meeting with Connolly, which she has described as “very cold” and went for about 15 minutes.

Connolly expressed her anger at not having received the information she requested, Cavanagh says.

“She shared she was very angry with not getting the information that she had requested and not having the pre-meetings that had been requested,” she says.

Cavanagh just told the inquiry that, following the meeting, she believed she was going to lose her job.

“I walked straight from that room into the CEO’s office [still occupied by the chief executive prior, Bryan Hynes] and I said [to Hynes], ‘I’m going to lose my job’. He told me to calm down and I said, ‘No, I’m going to lose my job’.”

Council boss asked for confidential information before she began work

By Ellie Busby

We’re back from a lunch break, hearing from first witness Bernadette Cavanagh, the former HR lead at the council.

Gail Connolly requested information about executive contract end dates and vacancies at the City of Parramatta before she started working at the council, Cavanagh is telling the inquiry.

Cavanagh says she declined to provide that information before Connolly commenced her employment “as it was confidential”.

“Until Ms Connolly was commencing from her commencement date, she wasn’t covered by our code of conduct and confidentiality, and the nature of the information that was being requested was highly confidential,” she says.

That information was later provided to Connolly after she started working at the council.

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Read the full opening statement

By

The ICAC has released a transcript of Counsel Assisting Joanna Davidson’s full opening statement read to the commission this morning.

Read it below:

‘Significant difference’: CEO pushed for $550k salary

By Anthony Segaert

Bernadette Cavanagh, the former head of HR at the council, has been detailing the negotiations that took place between Connolly and the council panel responsible for choosing the next chief executive.

On a Monday night in March 2023, councillors on a recruitment panel had resolved to offer Connolly the role of chief executive at the council, at a value of about $500,000, she says.

“The next day [Tuesday] the mayor [Donna Davis] asked me to assist in preparation of the contract, and in that process there were phone calls occurring with the candidate that were requesting $550,000.”

Bernadette Cavanagh, former executive director of People, Culture and Workplace at City of Parramatta Council, arrives at the ICAC hearing.Jeremy Piper

That figure was a “significant difference” from what was resolved by the council, Cavanagh says.

First witness appears

By Anthony Segaert

We’re back from a break that went slightly longer than planned to clarify a line from ICAC commissioner John Hatzistergos’ opening address.

We’re now hearing from the inquiry’s first witness, Bernadette Cavanagh, formerly the chief people officer and executive director, people, culture and workplace.

She engaged an external recruitment firm to work with councillors on the search for a general manager.

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What we learnt this morning

By Anthony Segaert

As the commission takes a short break, here’s a recap of what was raised during the opening session of the inquiry:

  • The trio at the centre of the commission’s investigations are sacked council boss Gail Connolly and her colleagues Roxanne Thornton and Angela Jones-Blayney.
  • The inquiry has heard they called themselves the “Pink Ladies” or “Pink Ops”, went on holiday together, and had an extensive WhatsApp chat. Their relationships “were not always managed by appropriate transparency [or] proper boundaries”, Counsel Assisting Joanna Davidson SC has told the commission.
  • Connolly “covertly accessed” the emails of councillor Kellie Darley, and had staff access Teams messages and emails of multiple other staff, allegedly in contravention of the council’s own policies and state legislation.
  • The commission is also investigating at least six terminations of staff led by Connolly, including one who Davidson said may have been seen as a “potential threat” to the chief executive.
  • The inquiry has also heard evidence that Connolly had sent an anonymous email to local reporters and councillors alleging fraud by a council employee-turned-council candidate, Justin Mulder.
  • The City of Parramatta, represented by Arthur Moses SC, was granted approval to read a statement in response to the opening statement. He said the council had “zero tolerance for misconduct”.
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