\'Gong residents demand fresh council elections

On April 1, 50 Wollongong residents rallied outside the NSW parliament in Macquarie Street, Sydney, to demand an end to corruption in the Labor-dominated Wollongong City Council (WCC). The rally, organised by the resident action group Wollongong Against Corruption (WAC), was addressed by, among others, Greens MP Sylvia Hale and NSW Liberal Party leader Barry O'Farrell.

WAC is calling for fresh elections to the WCC this September and a royal commission following revelations that the statutory Independent Commision Against Corruption is investigating allegations that former and current WCC officials and developers have engaged in corrupt practices in the assessment of development applications.

"The NSW ALP is responsible for local government corruption in Wollongong", said WAC spokesperson Paul Matters. "Premier Morris Iemma knows if elections were held in September 2008, the ALP would be trounced. That is why he has placed the ALP's senior bureaucratic mates as administrators to keep the ALP off the front pages of the media and off television screens."

From GLW issue 746