Ipswich ratepayers bankrolled more than $30,000 worth of boozy dinners, family perks and ongoing memberships for former senior Ipswich council figures at the exclusive Brisbane Club, documents have revealed.
Obtained by the ABC under Right to Information, the documents reveal executives of Ipswich City Council dined out at the club between 2011 and 2017, with the ratepayer-funded entity footing the bill.
Mayor Teresa Harding has labelled the spending "utterly disgusting", and called for a forensic audit of council-controlled entities in existence at the time.
The former council was dismissed under a cloud of fraud, corruption and extortion allegations.
Receipts from the Brisbane Club bear the names of dismissed councillors Paul Tully and former mayor Paul Pisasale, who is due to be released on parole this month after he was convicted of official corruption for unrelated offences.
Cr Tully was re-elected in 2020 and boasts of being Queensland's longest serving councillor. He has never been charged with any offences.
Former CEO Carl Wulff, convicted of official corruption for unrelated offences, and another senior bureaucrat who can't be named for legal reasons, also appeared in the documents.
Former CFO Andrew Roach, who resigned before the council was dismissed, was also named. He has never been charged with any offences.
The receipts show more than $19,000 was spent on ongoing memberships, but some transaction details do not match those recorded in official accounts – prompting calls for a forensic audit of all council-operated entities at the time.
Six years of luxury dining
The Brisbane Club claims to be the river city's "premier private club" that exists for the purpose of connecting business leaders, academics and artists – but forbids business being conducted within its walls.
Right to Information documents detail six years of luxurious dinners, meetings with developers and special dinners for member's families.
In October 2012, Pisasale enjoyed a $113 Penfolds 2008 St Henri Shiraz, oysters and three main meals at the club – his guests, not disclosed.
In August 2012, Mr Wulff sat down to two orders of the market fish of the day, with an $83 bottle of 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon.
In August 2013, Pisasale claimed two tickets to a members and daughters dinner – worth $170.
Two months later, the same for his son – another $170 on the tab, paid by the people of Ipswich.
But the majority of spending was on memberships to the elite club – totalling more than $19,000 between 2011 and 2017.
Levels of spending varied between the men, with the unnamed bureaucrat claiming nearly $7,000 worth of memberships.
Cr Tully and Pisasale claimed the least, around $2,000 each for memberships.
Mr Wulff and Mr Roach – who lived within 50 kilometres of Brisbane – each claimed the most expensive level of membership – about $850 biannually for a "Town Subscription".
Pisasale and Cr Tully – who lived 50 kilometres outside Brisbane – were charged between $250 and $300 twice a year for a "Country Subscription".
In total the receipts showed spending in excess of $30,000 between 2011 and 2017.
The ABC does not suggest the spending at the club was illegal.
Spending 'utterly disgusting': Mayor
Current Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding, who was appointed in 2020, has labelled the Brisbane Club spending "utterly disgusting."
"This happened just after the flood in 2011. To see that level of waste — the people of Ipswich are decent, hard-working people," she said.
"They owe the people of Ipswich an apology and they should be compensating the people of Ipswich.
"There has never been a forensic audit of those controlled entities, at the time of dismissal those entities had a corporate structure which did not allow the CCC [Crime and Corruption Commission] or ASIC to look at them," Cr Harding said.
"I call on the state government to do a forensic audit of those controlled entities, that's never happened and it's long overdue."
Last year, the Information Commissioner disallowed the council from publishing dismissed councillors spending records while in office due to "privacy concerns" – some of whom have publicly demanded an apology and recompense for reputational damage suffered.
Cr Harding called on all dismissed councillors to sign waivers that would allow the publication.
"We approached all the dismissed councillors and asked them to sign a waiver to show their expenses, only one has agreed to do that … no one else has.
"They should be paying back the people of Ipswich all their waste and they should be apologising to the people of Ipswich."
An Ipswich ratepayers group has echoed calls for the spending to be repaid.
Ipswich Residents and Ratepayers' Association president, Jim Dodrill, described the memberships as an "abuse of ratepayer funds."
"It's an abuse of the trust that we have in the people who we elect to represent us," he said.
"It should never have happened, and that money should be repaid."
Councillors 'couldn't meet at a Goodna pub'
The ABC could not contact Pisasale because he is in prison. Mr Wulff and Mr Roach declined to comment.
Cr Tully said he and the others had memberships at the club because it came with cheap parking.
"They had a venue to meet, they also got free parking or cheap parking at about $5 a day," he said.
"We were looking at a redevelopment of the city well over $100 million. And you don't do that by sitting in a, you know, a local pub at Goodna.
"It was pretty clear to me after a year or so that the value wasn't enough for me and I simply resigned my membership with the club — I do the right thing."
Ipswich ratepayers paid for more than $2,200 worth of memberships for Cr Tully between April 2013 and March 2017.
