The Local Government Inspectorate will assess a complaint against Wyndham councillor Glenn Goodfellow to determine if he has breached the Local Government Act.
A complaint was lodged against Cr Goodfellow last week by a ratepayer who felt the councillor had misled the public and breached the act when he claimed to be a certified practising accountant (CPA) when he was not.
At a special council meeting on April 20 to consider the council’s draft 2015-16 budget, the Harrison ward councillor stated he was a CPA.
After being questioned by Star Weekly, Cr Goodfellow told a council meeting on May 25 that he may have mistakenly said he was a CPA at the April 20 meeting.
“I may have led the meeting to believe that I held a CPA qualification,” he said.
“I made this statement during a heated debate and point of order from Cr [Intaj] Khan. I meant to say I was a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and held other financial, business and accounts-related qualifications.”
Cr Goodfellow’s admission came just days after he told Star Weekly that “at no point did I say I was a CPA”.
A spokesman for the Local Government Inspectorate confirmed that a complaint about Cr Goodfellow was received last week.
He said the inspectorate would assess the complaint before deciding whether to investigate it.
Cr Goodfellow is not the first Wyndham councillor to come to the attention of the inspectorate.
Cr Khan is under investigation for allegedly misusing his position on council.
A resident lodged a complaint against Cr Khan last September, claiming that the Harrison ward councillor had used his position on council to promote his business interests in a council-branded advertisement in a western suburbs-based Arabic newspaper.
