Latest news with #Mannoun
The Age
25-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
The 55-minute lunch, the ‘brazen signal' and the council in chaos
Among the matters under examination are councillor conduct, the council's handling of its finances, and state government grants for infrastructure, property purchases and staff employment – including its revolving door of 10 acting or permanent chief executive officers in eight years. On Friday, the inquiry heard Jackson – who lived in Northern Ireland through The Troubles and was once chief executive of the Belfast Local Strategy Partnership – started work at the council in 2014. He had replaced the council's former boss Kiersten Fishburn, who is the current secretary of the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, as chief executive in November 2020. By the time of his lunch with Mannoun in late 2021, the inquiry heard Jackson was one year into his five-year contract and fresh from a positive performance review. He had steered more than 800 staff through the departure of a 'highly popular' former chief executive, a restructure, and the pandemic. Loading 'The organisation was exhausted, we didn't need further upheaval,' he had told Mannoun. When he had quizzed Mannoun about what he meant by his remarks about the chief executive role, Mannoun had not responded, but instead asked Jackson about the process required to terminate his contract. Jackson said he had phoned Mannoun when he secured the mayoralty on December 20. 'I congratulated him on his success and he immediately said, 'Have you thought about my proposition to you about leaving the organisation?' 'I said, 'I think you're making a mistake, but if you've got the numbers, we know how it plays out.'' Mannoun said that 'his group' had agreed to a settlement of 50 weeks' pay, which Jackson understood was a reference to Liberal councillors, of which there were five on the council. He had also expressed a desire to Jackson that they keep his 'transition' out of the role professional, to agree on core messaging to staff, and for the matter to remain confidential. At a meeting on January 10, before the first meeting of the new council, Mannoun had said: 'Eddie, the people of Liverpool have elected their mayor and new CEO.' Jackson said: 'That, to me, was a very brazen signal of his intent to take a direct role, contrary to the [Local Government] Act, in the appointment of directors and day-to-day operations of staff, and he had no qualms about seeking to direct or influence members of staff, or directors in particular. 'I was very concerned about that.' Jackson said Mannoun had reiterated his dissatisfaction with the council directors' recent performance, which Jackson thought was 'unfair, 'very dismissive' and 'an arrogant approach'. Loading 'I'm speaking in the context of living through Belfast in the worst of times – COVID tested everyone in a way that was unprecedented.' Councillors voted 6-5 to terminate Jackson's contract and replace him with acting chief executive Peter Diplas at a council meeting on February 2. Jackson met Mannoun a few days later to discuss his settlement, which was reached months later. 'The meeting concluded, I shook his hand at the door, and that was the last contact I had with Mr Mannoun,' Jackson said. Jackson will be cross-examined next week, and Mannoun is yet to provide evidence. The inquiry continues. It is being heard over five weeks in front of Commissioner Ross Glover.
Sydney Morning Herald
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
The former Labor MP in the midst of the Liverpool Council meltdown
Of all the deeply cooked local councils around Sydney, Liverpool takes the cake. The council is facing an inquiry from the NSW Office of Local Government, which is scrutinising councillors' conduct, property purchases and handling of finances. CBD has been waiting with our popcorn since the inquiry was announced by Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig last year after serious allegations of maladministration. So far, the hearings have well and truly delivered. On the inquiry's opening day, counsel assisting Trish McDonald, SC, said that a forever feud between Liverpool's Liberal mayor Ned Mannoun and his bitter rival, Peter Ristevski, had been frustrating the council's operation. Regular CBD readers would recall an altercation between the pair during last year's local government elections, which involved Ristevski accusing Mannoun of being stinky and wearing an Armani suit (that's a bad thing?). Separately, Mannoun has brought a failed defamation suit against Ristevski. Loading This week, attention has turned to another of Mannoun's friendship break-ups – a falling-out with former Liberal John Ajaka, the 10th Liverpool Council chief executive in eight years, who was ousted by the mayor last year. This week's hearings revealed Mannoun had told Ajaka to fire 'useless' bathroom cleaners and requested Labor councillors be airbrushed out of photographs posted on Liverpool's social media account. Ajaka's ousting last year won him support across the political spectrum, with members of the United Services Union staging a protest, and conservative shock-jock Ray Hadley issuing a full-throated on-air defence of the former Liberal politician. Now, Ajaka is being helped by another figure from the opposite side of the political aisle. Adam Searle, formerly NSW Labor's leader in the upper house, is acting as his barrister during the inquiry.
Sydney Morning Herald
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘He stood on the mayor's foot': How the Liverpool Council chaos turned physical
Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun's troubled relationship with a long-time political rival is frustrating the operations of one of Sydney's largest councils, an inquiry has heard, amid accusations Peter Ristevski goaded the mayor and trod on his foot at a meeting earlier this year. The discord between the elected officials is among matters under the spotlight of the NSW Office of Local Government's public inquiry into Liverpool City Council, which is examining councillors' conduct as well as its handling of finances, property purchases, staff employment and more than $150 million in state government grants for infrastructure projects. Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig announced the public inquiry in July last year after a report detailed serious allegations of dysfunction and maladministration at the western Sydney council. In the month prior, the council had sensationally ousted its 10th chief executive in eight years, John Ajaka, the former president of the NSW Legislative Assembly, after a falling out with Mannoun. Counsel assisting the inquiry Trish McDonald, SC, said in her opening address on Monday the inquiry would consider whether the functioning body of the council – which oversees dozens of suburbs earmarked for significant growth – was operating effectively. Loading To that end, McDonald said the hearings would examine the 'long history on the council' and 'antagonism' between Mannoun, a Liberal, and Ristevski, a former Liberal councillor who returned as an independent in the local government elections in September. The pair appeared to have 'a troubled relationship which seems to be spilling in, or affecting, the operation of council', the inquiry was told. The inquiry was told about one alleged incident on February 20, when Mannoun met councillors and external recruiters to discuss the appointment of a new chief executive officer.
The Age
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Age
‘He stood on the mayor's foot': How the Liverpool Council chaos turned physical
Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun's troubled relationship with a long-time political rival is frustrating the operations of one of Sydney's largest councils, an inquiry has heard, amid accusations Peter Ristevski goaded the mayor and trod on his foot at a meeting earlier this year. The discord between the elected officials is among matters under the spotlight of the NSW Office of Local Government's public inquiry into Liverpool City Council, which is examining councillors' conduct as well as its handling of finances, property purchases, staff employment and more than $150 million in state government grants for infrastructure projects. Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig announced the public inquiry in July last year after a report detailed serious allegations of dysfunction and maladministration at the western Sydney council. In the month prior, the council had sensationally ousted its 10th chief executive in eight years, John Ajaka, the former president of the NSW Legislative Assembly, after a falling out with Mannoun. Counsel assisting the inquiry Trish McDonald, SC, said in her opening address on Monday the inquiry would consider whether the functioning body of the council – which oversees dozens of suburbs earmarked for significant growth – was operating effectively. Loading To that end, McDonald said the hearings would examine the 'long history on the council' and 'antagonism' between Mannoun, a Liberal, and Ristevski, a former Liberal councillor who returned as an independent in the local government elections in September. The pair appeared to have 'a troubled relationship which seems to be spilling in, or affecting, the operation of council', the inquiry was told. The inquiry was told about one alleged incident on February 20, when Mannoun met councillors and external recruiters to discuss the appointment of a new chief executive officer.
