'Code of secrecy' on Neylon letters report fails city's ratepayers

In my opinion it is in fact the council's own behaviour over this issue, and several other issues, that will be the cause of any damage or pain.

The code of secrecy over matters of importance to ratepayers is nothing short of disgraceful.

In my view there is a need for an independent inquiry into council by the Minister for Local Government or ICAC sooner rather than later.

As I have said previously, the city and ratepayers deserve better than the handling of the Bath issue and now the council's reputation falls into that category.

We are supposed to live in a democracy and the council is supposed to be responsible for looking after the interests of ratepayers, but sadly those obligations seem to be less and less important to this council.

SO now the Herald has been refused information by Newcastle Council because they might use it to criticise Mr Bath or council decisions and that could cause "psychological harm" ("'No' to your right to know", Herald 11/5). If the most senior public servant for the council can't stand criticism without suffering psychological harm then he should stand aside until he's healthy again.

Are we even allowed to publicly criticise the council at all? It's the proverbial cover-up that does the most damage, not the initial errors. Get back to transparency and honesty about this whole ridiculous affair and start again from a clean slate.

I am in Warsaw on a little holiday. I am reading the Herald online daily.

Why are the letters from some dude in Japan allegedly from Jeremy Bath's mate so important? With due respect, the Newcastle Herald put some of them in; that is, they published them.

My viewpoint is that Newcastle council appears to be well managed and very stable, so why rock the boat when some dude from the opposite side of the world has an opinion?

ANY reputational and psychological harm suffered by Jeremy Bath and the investigators into the sordid Scott Neylon letter writing saga has in my opinion been caused by council's own failure to conduct a thorough investigation the public demanded ("'No' to your right to know", Herald, 11/5).

Neither those targeted nor the broader public could possibly be satisfied by what has so far been revealed. The broader brief given to the council by the minister was "to investigate the letters to the editor campaign by council CEO Jeremy Bath's close friend Scott Neylon". This brief was whittled down from the 18 published letters to two in a "preliminary report", involving only one of the people targeted. The reasoning behind this cull would become clearer if City of Newcastle chose to release the information requested by the Herald; that is, "copies of the draft investigation report, preliminary assessment and the final report", as well as "access to correspondence between the council and Pinnacle Integrity".

As it stands, the only allegation investigated was whether Bath passed on confidential information to his friend. That's not the only reason the council's reputation has suffered. I believe public distrust will only grow if the council offers spin in lieu of transparency.

THE fallout from the Jeremy Bath-Scott Neylon affair has caused not only City of Newcastle chief executive Jeremy Bath reputational damage but also affected many including a local MP, councillors, council employees and members of the public.

Now City of Newcastle council refuses to disclose the amount it paid Pinnacle Integrity to conduct an investigation which cleared Mr Bath of any wrongdoing ("'No' to your right to know", Herald 11/5).

There is a simple solution here, and that would be a formal letter from council to Mr Neylon requesting he personally visit our city to clear up this situation once and for all. I have no doubt that on this occasion ratepayers wouldn't mind footing the bill.

Being good friends with Mr Bath, one would have thought Mr Neylon would have jumped on a plane before this to face the music and clear his mate's name.

THANK you Donna Page and Newcastle Herald for your coverage of the Bath-Neylon affair ("'No' to your right to know", Newcastle Herald 11/5). As a contributor to this page for more than 20 years I believe that Jeremy Bath had, at the very least, an obligation to advise the editor that his bestie's letters contained many misrepresentations. Did anyone ever believe the investigation was going to get to the truth?

I WOULD like to bring to Newcastle City Council corporate services executive director David Clarke's attention that the reason there maybe or perceived incorrect and false narrative within the public domain is because of the manner City of Newcastle treats it constituents.

Being secretive, withholding and not disclosing information allows it to fester without resolve.

Be open and honest in your operations. I believe as ratepayers we do have a right to know the who, wherefore and costs of the council's dealings.

In my view you are fuelling the flames with this arrogance.

JUST when we thought rugby league rules could not get any more complicated, we now have players being sent off for inadvertently touching a kicker's leg. It used to be a game where players competed for the football at scrums and more, but frequent blasts from the bunker for six more tackles for obscure reasons have spectators dumbfounded. Supposedly all these changes were made to make the game faster, but they're having the opposite effect. Viewers are confused.

HOW stupid can it get when there were apparently plans to call Mother's Day Family Day, presumably because a man with a husband may have a family? Without a mother a man wouldn't have a family. This is not a same sex issue, it's just a matter of fact.