Perth to undergo an urgent workplace culture investigation after Lord mayor calls unexpected motion at meeting

Newly elected Lord mayor Bruce Reynolds has called for an urgent independent workplace culture review at last nights council meeting. Council members voted 6-3 in support of Mr Reynolds motion, with councillors Raj Doshi, Catherine Lezer and Adam Pacan voting against. The motion called to create a new workplace culture committee and to conduct an independent review of workplace culture. The workplace culture committee members chosen at the meeting were Mr Reynolds, deputy mayor David Goncalves and councillors Liam Gobbert, Chris Patton and Cr Lezer. At the meeting, Mr Reynolds said that undertaking the review was to “support a safe, respectful and high performing organisation culture” at the city. The motion will see law firm Mills Oakley conduct an independent assessment of the city’s workplace culture and create a written report to present to the newly formed committee. The committee will report back findings and recommendations from the inquiry back to council, although it will be confidential. The lawyers will interview current staff as well as employees over the past two years on a confidential and voluntary basis. Mr Reynolds said the cost of the project should not exceed $125,000 and will be included in the 2025/26 budget. Current CEO Michelle Reynolds is currently on leave. The urgent business motion was not included in the agenda notes for the meeting. The last report, completed in 2020 following a two-year investigation, found staff to have cultural and government issues. This was when city was run by former-Lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi.