Updated September 15, 2026 — 12:36pm,first published September 14, 2026 — 9:24pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add more. AAA The City of Perth faces yet another inquiry as it battles to overcome “fractured working relationships” and “ongoing governance issues” plaguing the council.
Updated ,first published
The City of Perth faces yet another inquiry as it battles to overcome “fractured working relationships” and “ongoing governance issues” plaguing the council.
Local Government Inspector Tony Brown revealed the commencement of his formal inquiry after addressing councillors and city staff at a behind-closed-doors meeting on Monday evening, where he presented them with the findings of a five-month probe that began with the appointment of former Kwinana mayor Carol Adams as a monitor in January.
Brown told media the fresh inquiry would take about three months and cost about $120,000, however he was confident it would be a “short and effective way of providing an outcome for the City of Perth community”.
The council has been in the headlines constantly this year after Adams was appointed to monitor the local government amid a relationship breakdown between councillors and the city administration.
Brown said Adams’ report was not a public document, however the inquiry report would be, and could include recommendations for the council to implement.
“We could recommend to the minister for local government that the council be dismissed, or certain individuals be dismissed,” he said.
“So that’s the worst-case scenario, and I do not want to pre-empt what the inquiry will find.”
Legislatively, Brown cannot take action on Adams’ monitor’s report, which paved the way for his inquiry.
Brown listed breaches of confidentiality, a breakdown of public working relationships, and city officers “inundated with way too many questions and requirements” as issues raised during the monitor’s inquiry.
Altogether, Adams’ report led to 12 actions that Brown made clear he expected the city to undertake.
“The City of Perth is the flagship local government of Western Australia, so it needs to be the leader in governance,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s there at the moment, so we’re going to work through that, and we want the City of Perth to be able to return to providing good governance for its community.”
The local government inspector pushed back on suggestions bureaucracy was hindering meaningful action, noting the previous, well-publicised inquiry into the city ran for more than two years and cost $7 million, while his and Adams’ inquiries should be wrapped up within the space of nine to 12 months.
On Tuesday, Brown told ABC Perth he was not happy about issues in the ongoing relationships between elected members that had played out in the public arena, as well as the regular breaches of confidentiality.
He said there had been a lot of complaints against councillors, both from within the city administration and the council itself, which showed the elected members were not working together well.
“The working relationship between the council and the administration is the main focus, and you need to be working together,” he said.
“And where we see individual elected members not wanting to work for their collective community and not wanting to build relationships, these sort of issues happen.”
Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas – who was previously the Perth lord mayor before his elevation to state politics – said he was “genuinely disappointed” about the state of affairs at his old council, which he said had worked hard to act on the lessons from the previous inquiry.
“To see the city be back in a position where its reputation is being questioned is deeply distressing to me because I know how hard myself, the new council, and the administration worked together to change that position,” he said on Tuesday morning.
“We worked incredibly hard, harmoniously, and always put the ratepayers of the City of Perth first.”
City of Perth chief executive Michelle Reynolds was suspended by the council in May after councillors and city staff received a briefing on Adam’s report from Brown, during which he put the council “on notice” regarding the monitor’s probe.
The development prompted an angry response from Local Government Minster Hannah Beazley who in turn raised the spectre of council amalgamations.
Last month, a motion to bring Reynolds back from suspension “effective immediately” was voted down, with councillors opting to defer the decision until after the completion of a workplace culture review.
Zempilas said the question of Reynolds’ employment situation “does not appear to be answered”, and warned against a situation where the inquiry “drags on and drags on”.
“It is incumbent upon councils to work together in the best interests of the ratepayers, and clearly there has been a breakdown here,” he said.
“And I’ve got to say, as the capital city for Western Australia, everyone has a right to feel disappointed about what’s taken place there.”
Opposition local government spokeswoman Kirrilee Warr questioned the need for another inquiry, declaring: “This has been going on for far too long.”
“Hopefully we can get to the bottom of what’s going on at the City of Perth,” she said.
Warr initially held hope that recent reforms that led to the creation of the local government inspector’s office would make a difference in the sector, but now has her doubts.
“I think this Labor government hasn’t been clear with local government around what is the plan,” she said.
“They are very good to drop hot minute statements across media or in forums to lead people down a path to think that there will be a result, but right now we are seeing a number of councils being called in once again around their behaviours, around relationships, and around how they’re conducting themselves, and that is not good for anyone.”
The City of Perth was the first council to be allocated a monitor, just two weeks into Brown’s role as the head local government watchdog at the start of the year.
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