After being found guilty of 45 serious breaches of WA’s Local Government Act earlier this year for failing to properly disclose trips to the 2008 Olympics paid for by BHP, and a trip to the Broome Cup paid for by property group Hawaiian amongst dozens of others, Ms Scaffidi finally learned her fate this morning.
The disqualification will begin at midnight on September 7.The penalty is believed to be one of the harshest ever handed to a serving councillor in Australia, eclipsing the original four-month suspension handed to controversial NSW councillor Salim Mehajer last year, which was overturned on appeal.Ms Scaffid’s lawyer Steven Penglis immediately said he had instructions to apply to have the penalty stayed – or put on pause -until they could appear before the WA Court of Appeal.He said that application would be lodged within 24 hours, and hoped for an urgent hearing before the penalty was due to begin on Thursday.
Ms Scaffidi was found guilty of dozens of breaches for failing to disclose gifts and travel, and also failing to disclose third-party contributions to travel from corporations and governments, following a two-day SAT hearing earlier this year.At that hearing, the Lord Mayor admitted to some of the breaches – including the Olympic trip and the trip to Broome.
But she denied many others, claiming she either didn’t know she was supposed to declare the flights and accommodation, or was unaware the City of Perth had sought reimbursement for the cost of trips to Beijing, Houston, Sydney, the Gold Coast, Seoul, Japan, Spain and New York…
Source: Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi disqualified from office | Perth Now
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