Council staff dubbed the ‘Pink Ops’ allegedly surveilled other workers, NSW anti-corruption watchdog hears

A New South Wales anti-corruption inquiry is investigating whether three friends in powerful positions at a western Sydney council, who called themselves the “Pink Ops”, subverted recruitment and promotion processes to benefit friends.

The NSW Independent Commission against Corruption (Icac) held its first day of public hearings on Monday into allegations concerning Parramatta council’s former chief executive Gail Connolly, as well as council employees Roxanne Thornton and Angela Jones-Blayney and other staff.

In her opening address, counsel assisting Joanna Davidson SC said the three women were formerly part of a group working together at Ryde council, which called itself the “Pink Ladies” or “Pink Ops” or “Pops”. The name was “a play on words on the term Black Ops”.

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“The group attended social events together, including dinners and weekends away, and maintained contact via WhatsApp, chats containing thousands of messages continuing after the period during which they worked together.”

Davidson alleged evidence would show that “this close network maintained over years formed part of the backdrop to key decisions later made at Parramatta”.

Icac is investigating whether Connolly and other staff conducted targeted electronic surveillance and investigated staff for reprisals, including termination.

Connolly was appointed chief executive in March 2023. Davidson alleged an unsuccessful attempt to have the council reconsider her appointment through a rescission motion “marked an early line between those staff perceived as supporters of the new CEO and those perceived as opponents”.

“This was a divide that it is alleged later influenced both scrutiny and reprisal,” the barrister said.

Davidson said the evidence would show the possibility of a “broader objective” to create staff vacancies aligned with Connolly, and later Thornton and Jones-Blayney, “who were loyal to Ms Connolly personally, and in some cases connected to her personally”.

Davidson said this included “substantial questions” about the recruitment processes in the hiring of Thornton and Jones-Blayney, following Connolly’s appointment, as well as other members of the “Pink Ops” group.

Davidson said while relationships in local government were “not of themselves, problematic”, during Connolly’s tenure, they “were not always managed with the transparency, proper boundaries and disclosure of conflicts of interest”.

She said that included Connolly’s alleged preferred use of personal email accounts and “avoiding things being put in writing” to prevent them being released via freedom of information requests.