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City of Parramatta Council chief executive Gail Connolly asked a separated employee about his marital status and pushed another to reveal their celebrity crush, “that woman or man that you lusted after” at 15 years old, at a series of all-staff events.
As Connolly negotiates to leave her $515,000-a-year position before her contract expires in April 2027, the revelations raise questions about the culture and environment at the council, which has gone through a string of crises. These include spending millions of dollars removing staff and losing a case against its own councillor in the Supreme Court.
City of Parramatta chief executive Gail Connolly.Credit: City of Parramatta
Connolly is now on sick leave and an acting chief executive, George Bounassif, has been appointed.
The questions about staff’s marital statuses occurred during two all-staff events on August 6 and 7 at the Riverside Theatres and the council’s operation centre in Rydalmere, which were convened to inform employees of the council’s new “Our People Matta” values.
On August 6, a male staff member on the panel responded to Connolly that he was separated. Several staff members in the room told the Herald that Connolly asked what his former partner would say his greatest weakness was.
“All the questions were delivered in a gross nudge, nudge, wink, wink, tone,” one employee recounted.
At the event on August 7, Connolly pressed panellists about their teen crushes.
“Who was that crush?” she asked a panellist. “That woman or man that you lusted after? When you’re 15, come on.”
When a staff member on stage answered with the actor Jessica Alba, Connolly responded: “Ahh, OK. And why? Come on. Come on. Embellish. Embellish.”
When another colleague answered a pink Power Rangers figure, Connolly said: “I take back what I said about yours [another panellist] being lame. That’s worse.”
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“Everyone knows mine,” she continued. “It’s Tom Cruise … there’s nothing wrong with Tom Cruise. He might be a bit short, he might be a bit weird, but he’s very easy on the eye.”
She then moved on to ask panellists about the scariest situation they had been in, with the caveat: “And don’t count meeting with me or today’s panel.”
When asked about whether the questions were appropriate and for the context surrounding them, Connolly declined to comment. A spokesperson for the council said the remarks had been taken out of context.
“Panellists provided input into the questions ahead of time and agreed to respond to some off-the-cuff questions on the day,” they said. “The informal Q&A format has been utilised in previous sessions in response to staff feedback.”
With Lord Mayor Martin Zaiter on leave, the Herald approached Deputy Mayor Charles Chen for comment, but no response was received by deadline.
The forums included business updates and “more informal Q&A panels with managers who agreed to engage in a light-hearted conversation and some pre-arranged jokes with the CEO”, the spokesperson said. “It’s unfortunate that content from a recent internal event has been taken out of context.”
No ‘happy endings’
In a separate incident, at a conference in March at Commbank Stadium over four days, Connolly joked about massages being provided as a perk to staff not including “happy endings” while addressing employees.
The council spent $340,000 of ratepayer funds on the four-day conference, at which staff were treated to magic shows, massages, free meals, a photo booth and motivational speakers.
The Parramatta Xchange event, a professional learning conference, included workshops on “reimagining our values” and “thriving wellbeing”.
Corporate massage specialists 3 Minute Angels were providing massages to staff during breaks, a photo seen by the Herald shows. When announcing their presence, Connolly told staff there were no “happy endings” on offer.
Also at the event was Jackson Aces, a celebrity magician who has appeared on breakfast television and radio’s The Kyle and Jackie O Show.
During the sessions, motivational speaker and former cricketer Kath Koschel spoke about overcoming adversity with kindness. A second motivational speaker, Daniel Merza, ran a workshop about how to “get the monkeys off your back”, before dancing with staff to Shakira’s Waka Waka (This Time for Africa).
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Footage of the event was shared in the speaker’s showreel, which included footage of staff dancing along.
A spokesperson for the council said the conference was developed in-house, which significantly reduced costs, and was a “fantastic success” with an 80 per cent satisfaction rating, according to staff feedback.
They said the cost equated to about $260 per person, cheaper than similar external learning events that can cost the council between $1500 and $1800 per person.
“Due to the high level of success and value for money, it is planned to repeat the conference in coming years,” they said.
Acting chief executive Bounassif, who is normally the council’s executive director of city assets and operations, addressed news of Connolly’s planned exit in an all-staff memo on Monday.
“As many of you would be aware of speculation reported in The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday, I wanted to inform you that Gail has not made any decision to leave [the] council,” he wrote. “Please be assured that any significant changes to our organisation’s Executive Leadership Team would be shared directly with staff via Council’s internal channels.”
The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [email protected] with news tips.
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