Wagga councillor Rod Kendall 'vindicated' after inquiry into conflict of interest claims

In May last year, North Wagga residents hired the Sydney-based private investigation company Creighton Group to look into "matters associated with Wagga City Council".

The $30,000 report followed North Wagga Residents' Association claims that Cr Kendall had not protected their suburb through his role on the Floodplain Risk Management Advisory Committee.

The report was referred by multiple parties to the Office of Local Government, which acts as an integrity agency for councils in NSW.

"The Office of Local Government is the regulator, they are the ones that write the regulations and the requirements," Cr Kendall said.

"In this case they have actually examined [the allegations] against the requirements, so there isn't a higher level of vindication that can happen.

"They have taken it seriously, they have investigated it extensively."

In a response letter to Wagga council, OLG performance and intervention director Chris Allen wrote that he had "carefully considered the allegations that Cr Kendall failed to properly disclose his interests".

Mr Allen noted that the Creighton Group report "alleged that Cr Kendall failed to declare positions and interests in 17 instances ... incorrectly described his interest in a company in seven instances and ... made an incorrect disclosure as a property developer".

"Having considered all the allegations contained in the [Creighton Group] report, I am satisfied that no action is warranted by OLG," Mr Allen wrote.

In other news

Residents of North Wagga have been fighting for a levee upgrade for decades, with their campaign taking on greater urgency since the 2012 floods which left hundreds of homes ravaged by floodwaters.

Last year's Main City Levee upgrade provided Wagga's CBD with protection from a one-in-100-year flood, whereas North Wagga has been offered a one-in-20-year flood levee and voluntary house raising.

North Wagga Residents' Association commissioned the Creighton report to investigate the "reasons that some Wagga City Councillors may have in failing to approve precautionary measures to protect the North Wagga Wagga precinct from flooding".

While the final report, completed in May last year, made "no conclusions to the North Wagga issue", it focused heavily on Cr Kendall, examining his pecuniary interest returns dating back to 2009-10.

North Wagga Residents' Association treasurer Fiona Ziff said the OLG letter was a brief response to the lengthy Creighton Group report.

"I read the OLG response and it does appear that they have cleared him but I think the OLG response is farcical," she said.

"The Creighton report took six months, it's 60 pages long and involved a study of 10 years of publicly available documents ... the OLG basically replied in four paragraphs."

She also disputed Cr Kendall questions on whether donations from North Wagga residents had been used to fund the report without their approval.

Cr Kendall said he could not speak for what actions the OLG investigation took, but said he "was interviewed by them".

"The [OLG] believed my disclosures had gone above and beyond the requirements," he said.

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