With the appointment of Cr Clare Williams to the position of Mayor of South Gippsland questions are being asked about conflict of interest with regard to the Mayor’s husband’s company Hugh Patrick Pty Ltd T/A BJ’s Earthmoving.

Whilst the new Mayor has stated on several occasions at Council meetings that she is comfortable that she does not have a conflict at Council she has excused herself on many occasions declaring a conflict of interest when her husband’s company submits a tender for Council contract.

The Mayor enthusiastically supports increased spending on Capital works projects and as Deputy Mayor has attended functions in Canberra where Council and she lobbied various ministers and public servants for amongst other things, increased support for capital works projects within South Gippsland.

We sought information from Council on the awarded contracts during the period 2018-2023 and have shown this information on page 6 of this issue. The data shows that the Mayor’s husband’s company has done remarkably well over this period of time being successful on 16 occasions gaining contracts with a total declared awarded value of close to $13 Million dollars.

Since Mayor Williams was elected to council her husband’s company has won 6 contracts to the value of around $6 Million dollars. This amount awarded over 2 years is as much as was awarded in the prior 4-year period, so company is doing much better of late. 

When companies involved in earthmoving, roads, and associated works are considered it can be seen in the pie chart on page 6 that Mayor William’s husband’s company has gained 28% of the $46 Million awarded for such works. 

There is no suggestion that anything illegal or in breach of Council governance laws has occurred but when a single company gaining such a large share of Council’s contract spend has his wife as the Mayor, questions are needing to be asked and answered.

We asked the Mayor for her comments but she chose to not respond.

Editorial comment:

It is our view that Councillors should not be benefiting to the tune of millions of dollars of ratepayers funds through private business arrangements with Council. The perception of possible conflict is just too high even when no wrong-doing actually occurs.