City of Perth deputy lord mayor has doubled down on his comments over WorkSafe’s probe into the council, saying his declaration was made in good faith.
The city’s administration submitted an item of urgent business for the agenda briefing on Tuesday, over comments deputy lord mayor David Goncalves made at a February meeting.
City of Perth Governance and Strategy executive director Wendy Attenborough recommended council send a letter to Cr Goncalves to mitigate the city’s exposure to legal risk, according to the agenda.
The city’s administration invited Cr Goncalves to make any correction or clarification, after WorkSafe confirmed there was no ongoing investigation into the city.
At the briefing on Tuesday, Cr Goncalves repeated a declaration he said he made to the administration half an hour before the meeting started.
“WorkSafe replied and thanked me for contacting about concerns for safety on City of Perth,” he said.
“They indicated it has been successfully lodged and provided me with a confidential reference number.
“My declaration was made in good faith based on the information available to me at the time and to comply with statutory obligations.
“This declaration is true and I know it’s an offence to make a declaration knowing that it is false in a material particular.”
In the agenda, the city’s administration said Cr Goncalves’ statement at the February meeting gave rise to substantial legal, governance and reputational risks to the city.
“These risks may escalate if the issue is not addressed promptly,” the agenda read.
“The administration has endeavoured to obtain further information from Councillor Goncalves regarding his statement.
“No further information has been provided as at the date of completion of this report.”
Cr Goncalves declared an impartiality interest over matters relating to the city’s psychosocial risk report at the meeting last month, claiming the workplace safety watchdog has started an investigation into chief executive Michelle Reynolds and the administration.
"I previously made a referral to WorkSafe in relation to matters involving CEO and administration,” he said at the February 24 meeting.
"On Wednesday the 18th [February] I’ve been advised that the matter is now subject to formal investigation."
However, WorkSafe told Business News it was not conducting any current investigations into the City of Perth.
Since the meeting, the city has placed a clarifying statement on its website.
“To date the administration has… communicated with the WorkSafe Commissioner, both verbally and in written form, to confirm the advice that there is no open investigation into the City of Perth and the Commissioner is not aware of any communications to the contrary to any person,” its agenda read.
