Former Parramatta council boss pressured staffer to resign, ICAC hears

Former Parramatta Council boss Gail Connolly pressured an employee to resign for receiving messages from other colleagues that criticised an executive and friend of Connolly’s, an anti-corruption inquiry has heard.

When the staffer told the ex-chief executive they had heard her say much worse, Connolly said: “Not in f—ing writing I haven’t.”

Shannon Kleindienst, who provided evidence at the Independent Commission Against Corruption on Wednesday, said Connolly gave her the choice to either be fired or to resign in December 2023, after Connolly said messages that were sent to her, which she did not engage with, showed a breach of the code of conduct. Kleindienst agreed to resign and sign a deed of release.

In Operation Navarra, the ICAC is investigating multiple allegations against Connolly, including that she spied on staff and a councillor, and used confidential information to reward allies and remove critics or perceived opponents.

It is also investigating whether two colleagues, Roxanne Thornton and Angela Jones-Blayney, intentionally subverted recruitment practices to benefit friends and associates. The trio was part of a group known as the “Pink Ladies”.

Kleindienst was originally hired on a contract as acting executive director, city engagement and experience in December 2022, and later signed a short-term contract as manager of events and festivals in November 2023. The inquiry heard that in June 2023, Kleindienst applied to be hired permanently in the executive director role, a position that ultimately went to Jones-Blayney.

On Friday, the ICAC was told Jones-Blayney was provided with the interview questions for the role before the recruitment process commenced and that Connolly helped revise her resume and sat on the interview panel. Kleindienst said she was not given any interview questions in advance.

Kleindienst said she had a meeting with Connolly in December 2023, where she was shown a printout of Teams messages that were sent to her. The messages, sent by former employee Sheree Gover, who gave evidence on day two of the inquiry, and another colleague, reportedly featured inappropriate remarks about Jones-Blayney. Kleindienst did not contribute to the discussion, the ICAC heard.

“I said something to Ms Connolly about initially that we felt that these messages were relatively innocuous, and that I did say to Ms Connolly ‘come on Gail, I’ve heard you say far worse things about people’,” Kleindienst said.

“How did she respond to that?” Counsel assisting Joanna Davidson, SC, asked.

“Not in f—ing writing, I haven’t.”

Kleindienst also recalled Connolly had raised that she was questioning the council’s $1.15 million sponsorship with the Parramatta Eels rugby league club.

“By this stage, someone had leaked to the media the sponsorship report on the Parramatta Eels, and she was intimating around that, and I do recall saying to her, ‘Gail, if you’re asking me if I leaked the Eels report to The Sydney Morning Herald, the answer is no,’ ” Kleindienst said.

Kleindienst said Connolly used the messages to indicate a breach of the code of conduct. She told the inquiry that Connolly gave her the choice to either resign or have her employment terminated: “When faced with that choice, I chose to resign”.

Davidson asked if she felt pressure to sign the deed of release. “Yes,” Kleindienst said.

Redundancy the ‘least worst option’

The ICAC also heard from former staffer Bruce Mills, whose employment was terminated in July 2024 and signed a deed of release. At the time, Mills had been seconded into the position of executive director of property and place, previously held by Bryan Hynes before Connolly terminated his position. Hynes was the acting council boss before Connolly.

Mills said he first became aware that his position at the council might be at risk when, at a staff Christmas party in 2023, another executive said to him: “I wouldn’t be here if I knew what they were doing to you, they were doing to me.”

In December 2023, Mills said he had a meeting with Connolly where she told him she would disband the property and place directorate and create a 12-month role while a restructure occurred. Mills said Connolly told him he could apply for the role, but he would have to forfeit any redundancy entitlements and that there was no guarantee it would exist following the restructure.

The inquiry heard that in the same meeting, the prospect of a deed of release was raised with Mills and that he could frame his departure from the council as a resignation. Mills said he wanted to stay but felt redundancy was the “least worst” of the options available. Connolly permitted Mills to take six months of approved leave so that his redundancy payment was paid in the new financial year, counsel assisting Joanna Davidson, SC, said in her opening statement.

Connolly will give evidence at the inquiry on Thursday.