The City of South Perth has sacked its chief executive, Liz Ledger, with immediate effect. Councillors voted to do it a day after she resigned and publicly blamed the council's culture for her exit.
Mayor Greg Milner said in a statement on Wednesday 28 October 2026 that councillors had voted unanimously at a special council meeting on Tuesday night to "summarily terminate" Ms Ledger's employment. He said the decision was based on the findings of misconduct in an independent investigation. The council says the termination overrides the resignation she lodged on Monday 26 October.
Ms Ledger denies any wrongdoing.
What the council says
According to the mayor, councillors unanimously voted in August to suspend Ms Ledger and bring in an external workplace investigator to look into several misconduct allegations against her. The council received the investigator's report, including Ms Ledger's responses, last week.
"It's no secret that the City of South Perth has been the subject of some controversy over the past 12 months." — Greg Milner, Mayor of South Perth, as reported by WAtoday
Mr Milner said the council had stayed quiet during that time so that proper processes could run and procedural fairness could be ensured. The council has not made the investigator's findings public.
What Ms Ledger says
Ms Ledger got in first. She released a scathing parting statement on Monday, reported by The West Australian. In it she said she had been hired about a year ago to fix "deep-seated, long-standing dysfunction" at the city but had been continuously prevented from doing so.
Her statement blamed factional politics and bloc voting among councillors, and councillors who strayed into day-to-day operational matters that belong to the administration. She also said the council had directed her to stop work on workplace health and safety hazards that she said put both councillors and staff at serious risk.
"Regrettably, I was continuously prevented from fulfilling this mandate and deny any wrongdoing." — Liz Ledger, in her parting statement
Ms Ledger has close to three decades in local government, including a stint as chief executive of the Town of Claremont. She went on leave about four months into the South Perth job. That followed a last-minute motion, led by the mayor in March, that stopped her from hiring outside consultants for an independent psychosocial risk assessment of the city.
A council in turmoil
This is the latest blow in a rough year for the city. In June and July four councillors (Bronwyn Waugh, Tim Houweling, Hayley Prendiville and Jacqueline Raison) quit within about two weeks of each other, leaving the council with half its members. Several of them, alongside other former councillors, said in a joint statement that they no longer felt psychologically safe taking part in council.
Local Government Inspector Tony Brown has been involved at the city since February. A monitor, the long-time senior public servant Gail McGowan, is working on site with the council at a cost of $900 a day. Her term has been extended twice.
Ms Ledger is also the second Perth council chief executive to leave in about five weeks. The City of Perth sacked its CEO, Michelle Reynolds, on 22 September after an investigation. Ms Reynolds has called that process a witch hunt and says she will challenge it.
What the government says
Local Government Minister Hannah Beazley called it yet another day of dysfunction in local government. She told WAtoday that "the chaos has to stop".
"I've had enough of some of our local governments constantly behaving badly." — Hannah Beazley, Local Government Minister
Ms Beazley said WA's 139 local governments and 1,111 elected council members were "too many". She used the moment to push her local government reform Bill, which is before Parliament and would remove barriers to councils merging voluntarily.
Premier Roger Cook said on Tuesday that he was "concerned" Ms Ledger had lasted such a short time in the job. He has so far declined to step in, saying he is backing the inspector, who will advise whether more intervention is needed (The West Australian).
What happens next
The City of South Perth now needs a new chief executive, with a council at half strength, a state-appointed monitor still in the building and a former CEO who disputes the findings against her. It is not yet clear whether Ms Ledger will challenge the termination. Ratepayers in South Perth, Como, Kensington and Manning will be watching to see whether the inspector moves to a formal inquiry, or whether the government steps in further.
The story was first flagged on X by @WAtoday.
Photo: South Perth council buildings, by Five Years via Wikimedia Commons (public domain). File photo.
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