Council
26 May, 2026
Few words from ‘cheer squad’ mayor in fiery debate over DA processing times
Wingecarribee mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick has been accused of acting as a “staff cheer squad” and ignoring the interests of the community.
Wingecarribee mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick has been accused of acting as a “staff cheer squad” and ignoring the interests of the community.
Cr Rachel Russell made the claims during a fiery debate over DA assessment times at council’s May meeting and asked Cr Fitzpatrick whether he recalled a conversation about the need for a clear delineation between the role of mayor and general manager.
She accused the mayor of sprouting “PR, spin and propaganda” instead of listening to the community and asking council’s general manager Lisa Miscamble some hard questions about what is actually being done to improve DA processing times.
She said processing times had blown out significantly from 78 days when the GM took office.
In the same debate Cr Sara Moylan sensationally asked the mayor and general manager to step down from their roles.
The Southern Wire understands that some of the mayor’s comments following Cr Moylan’s suggestion have been edited out of council’s Livestream recording.
Cr Fitzpatrick described the request as ‘ridciculous’.
He also dismissed Cr Russell’s accusation with few words.
“I completely disagree with Cr Russell,” the mayor said.
“The statistics speak for themselves.”
As previously reported by The Southern Wire, Wingecarribee Shire Council has consistently been ranked as the slowest in the state when it comes to DA processing times.
Mayor Fitzpatrick has consistently said that things are being turned around but WSC still lags at the bottom of the council league table and has been issued with an action plan by the Minister for Planning and Public Places, Paul Scully.
Cr Russell said there was a “systemic dysfunction” in council’s DA processing times but said it was an issue with council’s leadership and not with its planning team.
She called for councillors and senior management to participate in a “cone of uncomfortable debate” to move into “authentic, sometimes difficult dialogue that produces results”.
She said the process would help resolve organisational and personal issues in a safe space.
“If we are still pretending, we are not addressing the issue,” Cr Russell said.
“If we try to hide, it indicates a problem.
“We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
She said councillors needed to empathise with people living in tiny homes and sheds while waiting for council approvals.
Cr Nicole Smith dismissed the claim of ‘systemic dysfunction’.
She said the general manager, the director and the director’s team were all doing a great job “under difficult circumstances”.
She said they were “getting on with the job” and not getting distracted.
Cr Erin Foley also claimed council had achieved ‘great’ results over the past two months and it was a “good sign of things to come”.
She said these results had been achieved using council’s own action plan, adding that she was “underwhelmed” by the timing and content of Minister Scully’s directions.
She said the Minister should be leading by example and his response time for providing an action plan was more than three times his Statement of Expectations for the process of a DA.
“Credit must go where credit is due,” Cr Foley said.
“The (planning) team is doing an expert and efficient job,” she said.
Cr Moylan said it was a simple fact that WSC was still the slowest in the state when it came to DA processing times.
She said it was not about council staff but about council leadership and Minister Scully had put leadership “in the middle of this issue”.
“He has not minced his words. He has been very clear,” Cr Moylan said.
She said there had been calls from the community for both the GM and the Mayor to step aside over the issue and suggested they both do so.
She said staff needed space to implement the Minister’s plan and to “get on with the job”.
She DA processing times were not the fault of the Minister for Planning, the Department of Planning, council’s director or council staff.
“It’s a matter of leadership,” she said.
Cr Smith said it was inflammatory for council reports to be described as ‘propaganda’.
“It’s highly upsetting to me,” he said.
She said council staff have been working extremely hard to “move the dial on this one”.
She said council had a great response process in place and didn’t need to listen to ‘faceless’ people on Facebook.
Cr David Kent also asked for some hard evidence.
“You need to put it (the complaints) in writing and share it,” he told Cr Moylan.
Cr Kent said a community satisfaction survey conducted earlier this year was “an endorsement of the leadership of this council”.
He said the survey was independent and scientifically run.
In addition he said complaints relating to DAs had died “completely down” since council took office and the “feedback from the ground” was “very positive”.
Cr Russell’s move for a “zone of uncomfortable debate” was rejected by the mayor’s voting bloc but the staff recommendation to accept the Minister’s action plan was accepted.
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