When Mayor Jos Mitchell rose to move her Mayoral Minute this morning calling for yet another audit – this time into the Heinemann Road Regional Sport and Recreation Precinct, she may have expected to be applauded for promoting transparency.
Instead, she faced a bruising two-hour cross-examination more akin to a courtroom that exposed a worrying lack of preparation — and raised more serious questions about judgment and process at the top of Redland City Council.
The Heinemann Road project has been controversial enough without another layer of bureaucratic churn.
First approved in 2017, the $100 million precinct has endured years of reviews, contract delays, and environmental hurdles.
Yet, despite this long history, the mayor sought to commission a fresh “internal audit” — ignoring the fact that one was already completed by BDO last year.
That report was presented to Council’s Audit Committee, where Mayor Mitchell herself sits.
It was noted in a previous General Meeting, accepted, and the findings are on the record.
So why call for another review now — and at what cost to ratepayers?
The mayor could not say. All she could repeat was the line: “I am not an auditor”.
Under extensive questioning from Deputy Mayor Julie Talty and several councillors, she would not name the relevant officer she spoke too, noting Council’s own internal auditor is currently on leave.
Nor, it appeared, had she spoken to General Manager of Organisational Services Amanda Pafumi who told the meeting any audit would likely need to be outsourced – at additional cost – due to constraints on officer time.
It quickly became apparent that no costings had been obtained and no resourcing implications discussed, even though the Mayor confidently claimed the audit could be completed in anywhere from three to 20 days.
The mayor’s hasty call for an adjournment in the middle of the heated exchange only highlighted how undercooked the proposal really was.
Worse, the timing of this latest Mayoral Minute raised eyebrows.
Cr Talty’s August resolution directs officers to revert to the original Heinemann master plan — the one the community was told to expect — and submit it for environmental approval by February 20.
Coincidentally, that was the very date by which Mayor Mitchell wanted her new audit completed.
The overlap was too neat to ignore.
The optics suggest the audit motion may have been less about transparency and more about delay.
Councillors were right to reject the motion 7–4.
An audit is not a political plaything.
It is a formal accountability mechanism, guided by clear internal processes and professional oversight — not something to be announced on the eve of a meeting without prior consultation or costing.
Redland ratepayers deserve a council that respects governance, not one that weaponises it.
Transparency is not achieved by endless reviews; it is achieved by competent leadership, sound process, and a commitment to deliver on promises already made to the community.
After eight years and millions in planning, it’s time to get the Heinemann Road precinct built or admit defeat and sell the land — not bury it under another pile of paperwork.
