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”.
“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 also investigating whether Connolly and other staff conducted targeted electronic surveillance and investigated staff and one councillor for reprisals, including termination, in a way that constituted “a partial and/or dishonest exercise of their public official functions”.
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.
The inquiry heard that the “position of trust” between Connolly and Thornton was such that, during their time working at Georges River council, they had a jointly controlled Facebook profile under another name to comment on council-related matters.
Davidson alleged that when Connolly “was in a rush to sign her employment contract at the city of Parramatta”, she wrote Thornton’s signature on the document as a witness to her own signature, at a time when Thornton was not present.
Davidson alleged Connolly assisted Thornton’s appointment to Parramatta council, first as chief governance and risk officer, then to the permanent position of group manager in the office of the lord mayor and CEO.
That included removing an essential requirement for the chief governance officer that required them to have a law degree, Icac heard on Monday.
Davidson alleged that Thornton, after starting at the council, assisted Connolly with a restructure “that involved a future position of the kind that Miss Thornton later occupied as group manager” which she took up permanently in February 2024.
It’s alleged that Connolly failed to properly declare a conflict of interest in relation to the appointment of Jones-Blayney, who had been “earmarked by Ms Connolly for this role well before the commencement of any formal recruitment process”.
Connolly allegedly gave her feedback on her cover letter, provided her with copies of the interview questions in advance, and sat on her interview panel.
Davidson said the inquiry would also examine the assistance allegedly provided by Connolly in the appointment of her niece to a senior executive assistant role at the council last year.
The inquiry heard that as part of “targeted electronic surveillance”, Connolly, assisted by other employees, accessed the emails of councillor, Kellie Darley, after Darley opposed a proposed $1.15m sponsorship of the Parramatta Eels.
It is alleged that following anonymous complaints about alleged bullying by Thornton and Jones-Blayney, Jones-Blayney decided one of her direct reports was the source.
Davidson said copies of the complaints were provided to Thornton and Jones-Blayney by another staff member. Connolly later authorised another staff member to undertake searches of the employee’s emails and Teams messages, as well as an external investigation, despite a “lack of evidence”, Davidson said.
The employee was asked to accept a deed of release, but instead resigned in April 2024. Connolly allegedly fired another council employee because she feared he was a “threat” to her job security.
The inquiry will look at a third allegation of whether the former CEO and other staff misused public funds to facilitate the exit of council staff through so-called “deeds of release”.
In July last year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the council spent $5.2m removing 81 staff between January 2022 and May 2025. Later that month, the council was raided by the corruption watchdog.
The inquiry’s only witness on Monday was Bernadette Cavanagh, a former executive director of people, culture and workspace at Parramatta council, who had raised concerns about Connolly’s appointment. Cavanagh told the inquiry she feared she would lose her job after a first meeting with Connolly, in which the CEO asked: “Do you want a redundancy?”
Cavanagh broke down in tears during the hearing as she described stress over potentially losing her job at the same time as the death of her father. She later accepted a deed of release.
Parramatta council voted to terminate Connolly from her position in October last year. Connolly has denied any wrongdoing.
Guardian Australia directed questions to Thornton and Jones-Blayney via Parramatta council. A spokesperson said the council would not be making any comments while the inquiry was under way.
The inquiry, overseen by Icac chief commissioner, John Hatzistergos, is expected to conduct four weeks of public hearings.
