Department of Local Government Inquiry into the City of Cockburn

The City of Cockburn's response to the Cockburn Gazette on 6.7.20 about the Department of Local Government inquiry in the City of Cockburn -

Question: When was the City informed of the inquiry? What information has the Department disclosed to the City about the nature of the inquiry? Was the City surprised at all after receiving word of the inquiry? What is the City’s response to the inquiry?

Answer: The City received notice of the inquiry from the Department of Local Government via an emailed letter on 15 April.

The Department of Local Government has notified the City that it is conducting an inquiry into the City of Cockburn following complaints. The City has not been provided with any details as to the number of complaints, what the complaints were about, the timeframe that the complaints cover, or which areas of Council’s operation they related to. Neither do we know how long the inquiry will take.

The City has, and will continue to fully cooperate with the Department and acknowledges the role of the Department to act on complaints. These inquiries are undertaken to ensure that good governance is in place.

The Executive has the utmost confidence that the City has very robust processes and procedures in place to govern all aspects of our business.

Our community continually tells us that we are doing a good job through customer satisfaction surveys, the Community Scorecard results and through our direct community engagement activities including our much appreciated COVID-19 helpline.

In the meantime, we will continue to deliver services as usual, continue with our COVID-19 community and business response, and plan for a prudent budget for Council’s consideration.