Deleted slush fund documents must be released by Premier Berejiklian according to department head
Thursday 12 November 2020
From Mayor Darcy Byrne: I have today received correspondence from the Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Tim Reardon, informing me that the deleted documents through which the Premier approved grants in the $252 million council grants slush fund do exist and can be retrieved and released only with the Premier’s permission.
Following Secretary Reardon’s advice, which was provided in response to my request for him to conduct a forensic review to retrieve the documents, I have this morning written to the Premier directly to request that she allows the Department to retrieve and release this crucial evidence.
Please find attached the correspondence between myself and Tim Reardon as well as my letter of today to the Premier. (PDF 157.1KB)
The simple fact is that the Premier personally approved $141 million of the monies secretly doled out through this slush fund, and despite the attempt by her advisors to shred and delete the documents that prove this, they can still easily be retrieved by an IT professional.
Her own Department Secretary has now confirmed that it is up to the Premier to allow the release of these documents and she should do so immediately.
What has she got to hide?
Secretary Reardon has also refused to confirm or deny if the destruction of these documents is a breach of the State Records Act.
The fact that Mr Reardon cannot rule out a breach of the law and has distanced his Department from the destruction and retrieval of the documents, indicates just how serious this scandal is.
The Inner West Council was cheated out of $24 million dollars which our community should have been entitled to through the Stronger Communities grant program. We will fight hard to reveal the truth of this rort until those monies are returned to our community for investment in infrastructure.
For media enquiries, contact Bill Hawker, Mayoral Media Officer, 9392 5685, bill.hawker@innerwest.nsw.gov.au