Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has won her court appeal against 26 adverse State Administrative Tribunal findings that she breached her gift disclosure obligations and remains hopeful of returning to the post once the matter is resolved.
Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has won her court appeal against 26 adverse State Administrative Tribunal findings that she breached her gift disclosure obligations and remains hopeful of returning to the post once the matter is resolved.
The SAT found Ms Scaffidi breached the Local Government Act 45 times by not disclosing third party-funded travel and accommodation, including a $US24,000 ($A33,600) BHP Billiton-funded package to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which she admitted along with four other breaches.
This led to her being disqualified from office for 18 months, and she stood down from her duties pending the outcome.
Ms Scaffidi challenged 26 of the adverse findings in the WA Court of Appeal and on Friday, with the full bench of judges finding none of them constituted a breach.
She didn't challenge 19 of the breaches.
The matter will now return to a differently constituted SAT, and the court refused leave to appeal against the penalty as that is now unnecessary.
In a statement issued via her Twitter account, Ms Scaffidi said she had written to the State Solicitor’s Office to try and negotiate a resolution.
However, the Department of Local Government and Communities said it was appropriate to let the SAT determine the new punishment.
"I will therefore make a decision as to when to return to my duties as lord mayor once I receive some indication from the tribunal as to when a fresh penalty hearing will occur," Ms Scaffidi wrote.
"My offer to the department to have discussions ... remains open."
Local Government Minister David Templeman said the government remained of the opinion that Ms Scaffidi should stand down from her position.
“I remain very frustrated and certainly very much concerned about how long this process has taken and we still have no final outcome,” he said
“It’s disappointing but this is the law.
“The government remains steadfast in its view that the lord mayor should have resigned from her position long ago.”
A City of Perth spokesperson said the outcome does not change the focus of the administration.
