The former Labor MP in the midst of the Liverpool Council meltdown
The council is facing an inquiry from the NSW Office of Local Government, which is scrutinising councillors' conduct, property purchases and handling of finances. CBD has been waiting with our popcorn since the inquiry was announced by Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig last year after serious allegations of maladministration.
So far, the hearings have well and truly delivered. On the inquiry's opening day, counsel assisting Trish McDonald, SC, said that a forever feud between Liverpool's Liberal mayor Ned Mannoun and his bitter rival, Peter Ristevski, had been frustrating the council's operation.
Regular CBD readers would recall an altercation between the pair during last year's local government elections, which involved Ristevski accusing Mannoun of being stinky and wearing an Armani suit (that's a bad thing?). Separately, Mannoun has brought a failed defamation suit against Ristevski.
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This week, attention has turned to another of Mannoun's friendship break-ups – a falling-out with former Liberal John Ajaka, the 10th Liverpool Council chief executive in eight years, who was ousted by the mayor last year.
This week's hearings revealed Mannoun had told Ajaka to fire 'useless' bathroom cleaners and requested Labor councillors be airbrushed out of photographs posted on Liverpool's social media account.
Ajaka's ousting last year won him support across the political spectrum, with members of the United Services Union staging a protest, and conservative shock-jock Ray Hadley issuing a full-throated on-air defence of the former Liberal politician.
Now, Ajaka is being helped by another figure from the opposite side of the political aisle. Adam Searle, formerly NSW Labor's leader in the upper house, is acting as his barrister during the inquiry.
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