Former City of Parramatta Council CEO Gail Connolly has broken down while giving evidence at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption, admitting she sent an anonymous email to journalists and councillors alleging fraud and corruption at the council she ran — and that she concealed her identity because she feared her position would be terminated if it was traced back to her.

The email, sent in September 2024, purported to be from a former employee and alleged years of timesheet fraud by a council delivery driver. Ms Connolly told the inquiry she took the step after months of internal complaints had failed to progress, and amid what she described as attempts to suppress the matter due to threats relating to colleagues’ employment.

The allegations before the commission extend well beyond the anonymous email. Over four weeks of public hearings, the inquiry has examined claims Ms Connolly spied on staff and a councillor, subverted recruitment processes for her own and her associates’ benefit, misused council information and public funds, sought information about councillor preselection processes, and contacted MPs about council election candidates.

The inquiry also heard Ms Connolly attempted to identify the source of a media story about her appointment, sending messages to a WhatsApp group of senior executives to determine who had leaked information to the press.

Ms Connolly is one of three women under investigation, along with Roxanne Thornton and Angela Jones-Blayney, who were part of a social network of local government employees known as the “Pink Ladies”. The trio are alleged to have subverted hiring processes to benefit themselves and their associates.

The hearing also examined the departure of the council’s former HR chief, whose payout ultimately exceeded the threshold requiring ministerial approval — an outcome Ms Connolly attributed to a administrative error she said she was unaware of.

Ms Connolly served as CEO from March 2023 until October 2025, when a split council vote ended her tenure. She will return to the stand next Thursday as the final witness in the inquiry, with two further days of examination scheduled.

Sources: ABC News; The Sydney Morning Herald