Updated ,first published
Almost immediately after being appointed chief executive of the City of Parramatta council, Gail Connolly exchanged dozens of messages with two friends who plotted an organisational restructure that would land them both jobs, who mocked staff and elected officials, and who shared confidential documents, the ICAC has heard.
Photos and hundreds of text messages, aired at the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s public inquiry into the trio on Friday, reveal how Connolly, Angela Jones-Blayney and Roxanne Thornton were part of a tight-knit group known as the Pink Ladies. The group, previously known as the Pink Ops, went on holiday together, Thornton said on Thursday.
Under Operation Navarra, the ICAC is investigating the trio over a series of allegations including that they intentionally subverted recruitment and promotion processes within the council to benefit friends and associates. On its 10th day of the public inquiry, it examined messages that show Thornton, a future staff member of the council, described Parramatta’s then-lord mayor Donna Davis as a “fat cow” and her colleagues at another council as “a bunch of f— wits”.
Two months before she was appointed council boss in 2023, Connolly told Thornton she might be able to “rescue you soon”. In March, Connolly texted Thornton to say she had the job. “Will finish the negotiations with Donna [Davis, then-lord mayor] tomorrow – she has my draft Schedule C already. Winner winner chicken dinner!” She added: “And Donna doesn’t care if I get rid of the current chief of staff – she hates him.”
‘Let the games begin’
On her second day as a witness, Thornton was repeatedly asked by counsel assisting Joanna Davidson SC when she had begun discussing with Connolly a restructure that would provide a spot for Thornton. She said she could not recall.
The commission saw text messages Connolly sent to Thornton and Jones-Blayney in her first few weeks in the job about plans to make Bernadette Cavanagh, then the HR boss at the council, redundant.
“Woo Hoo!” responded Jones-Blayney, who later joined the council as an executive director. “They have no idea who they are dealing with! Let the games begin!”
“Bahahahaha!” Thornton responded.
Connolly later sent a text to the group: “3 weeks and 3 ‘resignations’ – all of which were not directly initiated by me.”
In May, the pair sent messages about a new structure for an office of the lord mayor and CEO, which Davidson suggested Thornton planned to lead. “I want to be dealing with an Indian lord mayor and a kick ass CEO,” she texted.
In July, Connolly texted Thornton and Jones-Blayney: “Hopefully by the end of next week I will have two pink ladies about to come on board at Parra!”
“I am counting down the days!” Thornton replied.
“Same,” Jones-Blayney wrote.
Thornton told the inquiry she had aspirations for a senior role in the structure she had proposed, and a “level of confidence” and “tickets on myself”, but that she was not expecting a position.
“Is that an honest answer?” chief commissioner John Hatzistergos asked.
“Certainly it is, chief commissioner.”
Interview questions provided
The ICAC also heard Thornton had workshopped with Jones-Blayney and Connolly her application for a legal and governance job that was open only to internal candidates. “Remember, we are preparing you for the next role,” Jones-Blayney texted the chat as she encouraged Thornton to add a detail to her resume.
She was successful and joined the council on a base salary of $228,210, a $40,000 increase from her previous job.
Then Jones-Blayney applied for the position of executive director of city engagement and experience, and got an interview. “I’ve never felt so bloody nervous in my life for so many reasons,” she texted Thornton. “The main one being Gail on the panel and I don’t want to let her down the other is that I feel like I’ve lost confidence in myself with recent rejections and the way I was treated so badly at Ryde. I know I can do this job and would love the opportunity to prove myself again and make Gail proud.”
“Leave it with me,” Thornton responded. Shortly after, Connolly’s executive assistant, Anna Svorinic, sent Thornton photos of the interview panel questions Jones-Blayney would be facing.
Davidson asked: “You in fact appreciated that it was fundamentally undermining the recruitment process … to have access to the interview questions in advance?”
Thornton agreed. “I didn’t think this was all going to come out,” she told the inquiry. “I don’t think I ever do something where I think, ‘Oh shit, I’m going to get caught here’. If I thought I could get away with it, which I clearly did, I didn’t think Ms Connolly would ever – or anyone else for that matter – would ever become aware that this is what I have done.”
“I’m not following this,” Hatzistergos said. Thornton would later apply for the role of chief governance risk and legal officer. “Are these the sorts of practices that you say align with the role of chief governance and risk officer of a major metropolitan council?”
“No, chief commissioner,” Thornton replied. “But they are my own behaviours.”
Thornton will return to the inquiry on Monday.
Anthony Segaert is the Parramatta bureau chief at The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously an urban affairs reporter.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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