Daintree Ferry probity report goes before Council
Daintree River Ferry
A five-month probity report into the purchase of the Daintree River Ferry has cost $45,399.00 and more than 224 hours was expended on the project.
And at a Special Meeting in Council Chambers in Mossman tomorrow (10:00am), Council will publish the Final Probity Report on its website once resolved by Council. The other item on the agenda is the Financial Statements for the year ended June 2021.
Two key decisions in May led to the probity report.
On 21 May, Council announced it was paying $4.5 million for the Daintree ferry; and four days later, it was revealed an audit – spearheaded by Councillor Lisa Scomazzon – would be launched into the Daintree ferry contract renewal.
The independent probity audit was conducted by Local Buy Probity, one of Australia's leading providers of independent probity services to Queensland government entities, who were entrusted to analyse the ferry contract process to ensure public trust and understanding in the decision-making process.
“A probity audit requested by Councillor Lisa Scomazzon to review and provide detailed reports about the processes behind the Daintree Ferry Contract Renewal, was unanimously supported in an open Council meeting on 25 May.
“The probity audit will cover the period from initial consultations in 2018 until now,” Council said at the time.
Independent probity audit
Local Buy Probity was engaged via a competitive procurement process to conduct an independent probity audit. The scope of the probity audit related to the review of the decisions of Council in relation to its overall Daintree River Ferry Strategy with respect to its short, medium and longer-term procurement and contract solutions, according to the agenda.
As well as external costs to perform this audit, a number of Council officers were required to assist in preparation for and tasks during the audit process.
This included attending Probity Audit Meetings; sourcing of relevant documentation as requested by Auditors; uploading information to the secure drive and co-ordinating interviews with staff and Councillors.
It is estimated that internal time to assist this process over a 12-week period was over 720 hours. This internal cost was not all captured by a direct work order, however, the time worked on this project redirected staff members from their normal duties.
In May, meanwhile, Councillors Abigail Noli and Scomazzon, publicly outlined concerns with the latter leading the way for an audit to review and provide detailed reports about the processes behind the Daintree Ferry Contract Renewal.
Lack of consultation
Cr Abigail Noli questioned the lack of consultation.
“There was no consultation by this council as to whether the ratepayers wanted to buy a ferry; consultation was completely disregarded by this purchase.
“There was no transparency. The first time the public knew that buying the ferry might occur was 12 January 2021. The next time was in May of this year, a mere few days before it occurred.
“The speed for this purchase is not good governance; good governance of Council is one of the tasks that a councillor is assigned to do by law,” she said at the time.
The agenda notes that the Daintree River Ferry is critical transport infrastructure that provides access to the area north of the Daintree River to residents and tourists.
The Daintree River Ferry contracts are arguably the highest value and highest risk procurement actions that Council manage.
Conducting the Probity Audit of Procurement and Contract Solutions provides assurance to the Councillors and the public that due process has been followed in undertaking these high-risk procurement projects.
Click here for more info: https://douglas.qld.gov.au/download/council_meetings/3.2-Daintree-Ferry-Probity-Audit.pdf