Bass Coast Shire councillors soon after their election in November 2016. Cr Les Larke is seated, left, next to the Mayor, Pamela Rothfield.
By Catherine Watson
THE Local Government Inspectorate this week cleared Cr Les Larke of sensational allegations that he had attempted to bribe his fellow councillors.
Four councillors had testified that Cr Larke offered $1 million per ward, later rising to a total of $5 million, to elect him mayor of Bass Coast in 2018. However, the Inspectorate found there was insufficient evidence to prove the complaint and declared it would take no further action. (Cr Larke cleared in bribery probe)
Normally no one outside the case would have heard of the allegations, since Cr Larke was not charged, but the inquiry had been leaked to The Age. It soon became apparent that, as in any good detective story, there were a lot of suspects because Cr Larke seemed to have antagonised a lot of people.
THE Local Government Inspectorate this week cleared Cr Les Larke of sensational allegations that he had attempted to bribe his fellow councillors.
Four councillors had testified that Cr Larke offered $1 million per ward, later rising to a total of $5 million, to elect him mayor of Bass Coast in 2018. However, the Inspectorate found there was insufficient evidence to prove the complaint and declared it would take no further action. (Cr Larke cleared in bribery probe)
Normally no one outside the case would have heard of the allegations, since Cr Larke was not charged, but the inquiry had been leaked to The Age. It soon became apparent that, as in any good detective story, there were a lot of suspects because Cr Larke seemed to have antagonised a lot of people.
The Age description of Cr Larke as a “Maserati-driving multi-millionaire … who claims to own a vast property portfolio including a residence in Monaco” intrigued me, as it would have many of his constituents.
In many ways, Cr Larke is the accountant of popular imagination. At first appearance he is a modest man, always immaculately dressed, usually in a jacket and tie, unassuming, quietly spoken, though dogged in his opinions.
He has a legion of constituents and other supporters who admire the way he has challenged the council on financial matters. Although few of them would understand the substance of his complaints, they admire his tenacity. (A film of this version of Cr Larke’s life would star Gregory Peck.)
He showed similar tenacity before his election in 2016 when he sent several hundred emails to the council relating to the Wonthaggi Cemetery.
During this time, he also threatened to take the council to the Human Rights Commission and to sue the mayor. The volume of correspondence to the council was so high and so distracting that he was allocated his own senior staff member for all communications and barred from emailing or calling other staff members and councillors. When he was a councillor the CEO restricted his access to staff under the OH&S Act.
Yet Wonthaggi residents speak of their local councillor knocking on their door to introduce himself. I’ve also experienced Cr Larke’s considerable charm. I was in my garden one Sunday morning when a car pulled up and he got out to tell me how much he liked my house. His correspondence to me as editor of the Bass Coast Post is old-fashioned and courteous: “Dear Ms Watson. Kindly note …”
Cr Larke’s fellow councillors were also charmed by him, at least to start with. Yet within a few months, he had alienated most of them and many council staff. Those who worked with him describe a man who demands attention, who makes no secret of his superior intelligence, and an outlier who finds it difficult to work in a team.
During a tumultuous four-year council term, he made complaints to the Victorian Ombudsman and the Auditor General, was referred to the Local Government Inspectorate over his behaviour towards staff, and was forced to make written apologies to three staff and one councillor.
The Post set out to try and separate fact from fiction about Cr Larke and discovered it wasn’t easy.
That Maserati
Frequently mentioned but rarely seen.
Fact
Cr Larke drives a Toyota Corolla. Before that, he drove a Mitsubishi Magna station wagon. Cr Stephen Fullarton reckons he once saw the Maserati outside the council chambers.
The property portfolio
“Cr Larke … claims to own a vast property portfolio including a residence in Monaco.”
Age report, September 25, 2020
Fact
Cr Larke owns and lives in a modest unit in Wonthaggi. However, he mentioned in a public council meeting that he had a house in Brighton overlooking the yacht club. He has told his colleagues he owns property in Brighton, Sydney, Kinglake, Red Hills, Seymour, Noosa, Ventnor and Inverloch.
The Bass Coast Shire Council Register of Councillor Interests, where councillors are required to list property held by them or family members that may raise a conflict of interest, lists three properties in Inverloch and one in Ventnor. A title search reveals none of the properties is registered in his name.
Business address
The address on Les Larke’s election material for the 2016 council election was Level 27, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne, sometimes referred to as “Melbourne’s most prestigious address”.
Fact
The 27th floor of 101 Collins Street is operated by Servcorp as serviced offices, “virtual offices” and co-working space. Prices range from $369 a month for a “virtual office” (with receptionist) to $189 a month for a simple “address package”. Cr Larke told the Post he had a real office there.
Reducing costs
Cr Larke was elected to Bass Coast Shire Council in 2016 on a platform of reducing costs.
Fact
The Post understands Cr Larke has cost the ratepayers of Bass Coast several hundred thousand dollars based on the staff time required in responding to hundreds of questions, complaints and legal threats, in costs for legal advice, and in senior staff time responding to complaints made by him to outside agencies including the Auditor General and the Victorian Ombudsman. None of the legal threats eventuated and none of the complaints was upheld.
Professional knowledge
In 2017 Cr Larke accused the council of concealing an operating deficit of $31 million and reported his concerns to the Victorian Auditor-General.
Fact
After an inquiry, the Auditor-General stated he was satisfied that the financial statements had been properly prepared. He said Cr Larke appeared to have misunderstood the nature and purpose of components of the balance sheet.
Cr Larke continues to criticise the reports. He acknowledged that his continual questioning of the council accounts annoyed the other councillors. “They got sick of hearing the same old same old … you know, they called it Groundhog Day. Every time the budget position came up. But I couldn’t help that. The message from me was consistent.”
Fellow Certified Practising Accountant
Cr Larke has frequently stated that, as a Fellow Certified Practising Accountant, he is the only councillor qualified to understand the council’s financial reports.
Fact
He was initially the councillor representative on the council’s audit committee but resigned from the committee four months after being elected.
Cr Larke told the Post “I didn’t agree with giving the finances a tick. I thought it was an unviable situation. I’ve always accepted that according to the accounting standards the financial statement are true and correct. It’s just the accounting practices and processes that need improving. I’m probably ahead of the curve in that regards. I’ve had discussion with the chief of Local Government Victoria. I continue to advocate at that high level.”
State Trustees
In his current election material and elsewhere, Cr Larke states that he was General Manager of State Trustees and oversaw its transition from a state sector agency to a state owned company.
Fact
State Trustees issued a notice of termination of employment to Mr Larke in 1995.
Cr Larke told the Post he was never dismissed but came to a mutual agreement with State Trustees to part company. “That was nearly 30 years ago. It’s not relevant to the current circumstances.” The Post pointed out that he was still using his position with State Trustees on his election material. He called later to explain his difficult personal circumstances at that time.
Friends in high places
Before he was elected a councillor, Mr Larke told then Bass Coast mayor Neil Rankine that he was a multi-millionaire, and that he would spend his last cent using his “good friend Julian Burnside QC” to take Mr Rankine to the Supreme Court.
Fact
In response to a query from the Post, Julian Burnside stated: “He’s not a ‘good friend’, in fact I had never heard of him until I got your email.”
Legal proceedings
Cr Larke has threatened several people with action for defamation. He refers to “my legal team in Collins Street”.
Fact
During his term on council, he had to write an apology and pay legal expenses to three senior finance staff after publicly accusing them of “cooking the books” and “misleading the council and the committee”. He was also forced to apologise and pay legal expenses to a fellow councillor.
Achievements
“Over the past 4 years as a councillor, my extensive experience as a Certified Practicing Accountant and former General Manager State Trustees, has enabled me to support a team of dedicated councillors and staff to transform long term strategic plans and budgets to ensure the financial sustainability of council well into the future.”
Les Larke candidate statement, VEC website, 2020
Fact
Cr Larke voted against adopting three of the four annual budgets during his council term. He opposed most of the council’s financial initiatives and has voted against the council plan. At a council meeting in May 2020, former Bass Coast Mayor Pamela Rothfield said his continual criticism was demoralising to councillors, council staff and the community. “He’s just standing outside throwing stones.”
Value for money
In June 2017 Cr Larke proposed that council should lay off 46 staff – 15 per cent of the total workforce – as a cost-saving measure
Fact
From November 2016 to March 2020, Cr Larke was paid $93,270 plus super for his council duties and racked up just under $30,000 in councillor expenses despite living in Wonthaggi, where most council meetings and briefings are held. Most councillors serve on between four and eight committees. Cr Larke resigned from all his council committees in 2017. From 2018-2020 he served on one. This year he was also council rep on the Victorian Local Governance Association.
Cr Larke told the Post he nominated for more committees but couldn’t get the votes from his fellow councillors.
Sporting prowess
He said he played football for the Melbourne Under 19s.
Fact
There is no record of him in the Melbourne Football Club records.
The poker player
“Poker is like sex – everyone thinks they’re the best but most people don’t have a clue what they’re doing.”
From Les Larke’s Favorite Poker Quotations
Fact
Not our Les Larke, unfortunately.
Post-script
At the end of every bit of investigative reporting – that is, finding out things that people don’t want you to know – there is a bit that most reporters dread. This is where you must contact the subject of your inquiry. I rang Cr Larke with some trepidation.
The usual response is some combination of legal threats, angry tirade and a phone being slammed down. To my surprise, Cr Larke responded to my queries. His version of events was not always the version of events I had been told by other people but it sometimes differed only by a matter of interpretation.
The previous day the Local Government Inspectorate had finalised its inquiry into Cr Larke announcing it would take no further action. He said he was relieved for his family and many supporters during “a terrible time”.
He was clearly shocked by what had happened and the animosity towards him, and it had made him reflective. He told me several times how much he cared about the community. “I have very strong relationships with a lot of people I’ve helped. I go in to bat for them, which causes a bit of angst.”
Cr Larke said his biggest regret about his time on the council was that his relationship with former CEO Paul Buckley had got off to a bad start, from which it never recovered, and that his relationship with some councillors had deteriorated.
“That’s one area I can really work on. It’s an area that in other parts of my life is a strength. For some reason it hasn’t quite worked in the council. It’s driven by policy differences – beliefs and opinions – but I should be able to work more effectively within that environment, recognising and understanding that there are other views and using respectful techniques rather than trying to drive my ideas through.
“If I am re-elected – and that seems unlikely given the current circumstances and the smear campaign that happened – I’ll give you one guarantee. I will work at the relationships – the new relationships and the existing relationships – with other councillors.”
In many ways, Cr Larke is the accountant of popular imagination. At first appearance he is a modest man, always immaculately dressed, usually in a jacket and tie, unassuming, quietly spoken, though dogged in his opinions.
He has a legion of constituents and other supporters who admire the way he has challenged the council on financial matters. Although few of them would understand the substance of his complaints, they admire his tenacity. (A film of this version of Cr Larke’s life would star Gregory Peck.)
He showed similar tenacity before his election in 2016 when he sent several hundred emails to the council relating to the Wonthaggi Cemetery.
During this time, he also threatened to take the council to the Human Rights Commission and to sue the mayor. The volume of correspondence to the council was so high and so distracting that he was allocated his own senior staff member for all communications and barred from emailing or calling other staff members and councillors. When he was a councillor the CEO restricted his access to staff under the OH&S Act.
Yet Wonthaggi residents speak of their local councillor knocking on their door to introduce himself. I’ve also experienced Cr Larke’s considerable charm. I was in my garden one Sunday morning when a car pulled up and he got out to tell me how much he liked my house. His correspondence to me as editor of the Bass Coast Post is old-fashioned and courteous: “Dear Ms Watson. Kindly note …”
Cr Larke’s fellow councillors were also charmed by him, at least to start with. Yet within a few months, he had alienated most of them and many council staff. Those who worked with him describe a man who demands attention, who makes no secret of his superior intelligence, and an outlier who finds it difficult to work in a team.
During a tumultuous four-year council term, he made complaints to the Victorian Ombudsman and the Auditor General, was referred to the Local Government Inspectorate over his behaviour towards staff, and was forced to make written apologies to three staff and one councillor.
The Post set out to try and separate fact from fiction about Cr Larke and discovered it wasn’t easy.
That Maserati
Frequently mentioned but rarely seen.
Fact
Cr Larke drives a Toyota Corolla. Before that, he drove a Mitsubishi Magna station wagon. Cr Stephen Fullarton reckons he once saw the Maserati outside the council chambers.
The property portfolio
“Cr Larke … claims to own a vast property portfolio including a residence in Monaco.”
Age report, September 25, 2020
Fact
Cr Larke owns and lives in a modest unit in Wonthaggi. However, he mentioned in a public council meeting that he had a house in Brighton overlooking the yacht club. He has told his colleagues he owns property in Brighton, Sydney, Kinglake, Red Hills, Seymour, Noosa, Ventnor and Inverloch.
The Bass Coast Shire Council Register of Councillor Interests, where councillors are required to list property held by them or family members that may raise a conflict of interest, lists three properties in Inverloch and one in Ventnor. A title search reveals none of the properties is registered in his name.
Business address
The address on Les Larke’s election material for the 2016 council election was Level 27, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne, sometimes referred to as “Melbourne’s most prestigious address”.
Fact
The 27th floor of 101 Collins Street is operated by Servcorp as serviced offices, “virtual offices” and co-working space. Prices range from $369 a month for a “virtual office” (with receptionist) to $189 a month for a simple “address package”. Cr Larke told the Post he had a real office there.
Reducing costs
Cr Larke was elected to Bass Coast Shire Council in 2016 on a platform of reducing costs.
Fact
The Post understands Cr Larke has cost the ratepayers of Bass Coast several hundred thousand dollars based on the staff time required in responding to hundreds of questions, complaints and legal threats, in costs for legal advice, and in senior staff time responding to complaints made by him to outside agencies including the Auditor General and the Victorian Ombudsman. None of the legal threats eventuated and none of the complaints was upheld.
Professional knowledge
In 2017 Cr Larke accused the council of concealing an operating deficit of $31 million and reported his concerns to the Victorian Auditor-General.
Fact
After an inquiry, the Auditor-General stated he was satisfied that the financial statements had been properly prepared. He said Cr Larke appeared to have misunderstood the nature and purpose of components of the balance sheet.
Cr Larke continues to criticise the reports. He acknowledged that his continual questioning of the council accounts annoyed the other councillors. “They got sick of hearing the same old same old … you know, they called it Groundhog Day. Every time the budget position came up. But I couldn’t help that. The message from me was consistent.”
Fellow Certified Practising Accountant
Cr Larke has frequently stated that, as a Fellow Certified Practising Accountant, he is the only councillor qualified to understand the council’s financial reports.
Fact
He was initially the councillor representative on the council’s audit committee but resigned from the committee four months after being elected.
Cr Larke told the Post “I didn’t agree with giving the finances a tick. I thought it was an unviable situation. I’ve always accepted that according to the accounting standards the financial statement are true and correct. It’s just the accounting practices and processes that need improving. I’m probably ahead of the curve in that regards. I’ve had discussion with the chief of Local Government Victoria. I continue to advocate at that high level.”
State Trustees
In his current election material and elsewhere, Cr Larke states that he was General Manager of State Trustees and oversaw its transition from a state sector agency to a state owned company.
Fact
State Trustees issued a notice of termination of employment to Mr Larke in 1995.
Cr Larke told the Post he was never dismissed but came to a mutual agreement with State Trustees to part company. “That was nearly 30 years ago. It’s not relevant to the current circumstances.” The Post pointed out that he was still using his position with State Trustees on his election material. He called later to explain his difficult personal circumstances at that time.
Friends in high places
Before he was elected a councillor, Mr Larke told then Bass Coast mayor Neil Rankine that he was a multi-millionaire, and that he would spend his last cent using his “good friend Julian Burnside QC” to take Mr Rankine to the Supreme Court.
Fact
In response to a query from the Post, Julian Burnside stated: “He’s not a ‘good friend’, in fact I had never heard of him until I got your email.”
Legal proceedings
Cr Larke has threatened several people with action for defamation. He refers to “my legal team in Collins Street”.
Fact
During his term on council, he had to write an apology and pay legal expenses to three senior finance staff after publicly accusing them of “cooking the books” and “misleading the council and the committee”. He was also forced to apologise and pay legal expenses to a fellow councillor.
Achievements
“Over the past 4 years as a councillor, my extensive experience as a Certified Practicing Accountant and former General Manager State Trustees, has enabled me to support a team of dedicated councillors and staff to transform long term strategic plans and budgets to ensure the financial sustainability of council well into the future.”
Les Larke candidate statement, VEC website, 2020
Fact
Cr Larke voted against adopting three of the four annual budgets during his council term. He opposed most of the council’s financial initiatives and has voted against the council plan. At a council meeting in May 2020, former Bass Coast Mayor Pamela Rothfield said his continual criticism was demoralising to councillors, council staff and the community. “He’s just standing outside throwing stones.”
Value for money
In June 2017 Cr Larke proposed that council should lay off 46 staff – 15 per cent of the total workforce – as a cost-saving measure
Fact
From November 2016 to March 2020, Cr Larke was paid $93,270 plus super for his council duties and racked up just under $30,000 in councillor expenses despite living in Wonthaggi, where most council meetings and briefings are held. Most councillors serve on between four and eight committees. Cr Larke resigned from all his council committees in 2017. From 2018-2020 he served on one. This year he was also council rep on the Victorian Local Governance Association.
Cr Larke told the Post he nominated for more committees but couldn’t get the votes from his fellow councillors.
Sporting prowess
He said he played football for the Melbourne Under 19s.
Fact
There is no record of him in the Melbourne Football Club records.
The poker player
“Poker is like sex – everyone thinks they’re the best but most people don’t have a clue what they’re doing.”
From Les Larke’s Favorite Poker Quotations
Fact
Not our Les Larke, unfortunately.
Post-script
At the end of every bit of investigative reporting – that is, finding out things that people don’t want you to know – there is a bit that most reporters dread. This is where you must contact the subject of your inquiry. I rang Cr Larke with some trepidation.
The usual response is some combination of legal threats, angry tirade and a phone being slammed down. To my surprise, Cr Larke responded to my queries. His version of events was not always the version of events I had been told by other people but it sometimes differed only by a matter of interpretation.
The previous day the Local Government Inspectorate had finalised its inquiry into Cr Larke announcing it would take no further action. He said he was relieved for his family and many supporters during “a terrible time”.
He was clearly shocked by what had happened and the animosity towards him, and it had made him reflective. He told me several times how much he cared about the community. “I have very strong relationships with a lot of people I’ve helped. I go in to bat for them, which causes a bit of angst.”
Cr Larke said his biggest regret about his time on the council was that his relationship with former CEO Paul Buckley had got off to a bad start, from which it never recovered, and that his relationship with some councillors had deteriorated.
“That’s one area I can really work on. It’s an area that in other parts of my life is a strength. For some reason it hasn’t quite worked in the council. It’s driven by policy differences – beliefs and opinions – but I should be able to work more effectively within that environment, recognising and understanding that there are other views and using respectful techniques rather than trying to drive my ideas through.
“If I am re-elected – and that seems unlikely given the current circumstances and the smear campaign that happened – I’ll give you one guarantee. I will work at the relationships – the new relationships and the existing relationships – with other councillors.”
Les Larke response to this article:
I do not propose to respond in depth to your article other than to say that this article is significantly inaccurate and personally damaging in almost every respect, and in my opinion designed to improperly influence residents and ratepayers in order to direct their vote or support to Bass Coast Shire Council candidates, other than to myself.
That said, I will make some brief comments to address a few key issues:
I do not propose to respond in depth to your article other than to say that this article is significantly inaccurate and personally damaging in almost every respect, and in my opinion designed to improperly influence residents and ratepayers in order to direct their vote or support to Bass Coast Shire Council candidates, other than to myself.
That said, I will make some brief comments to address a few key issues:
- My financial position in terms of assets held either directly or indirectly is private and confidential, and none of your business. To play the ideological card of ‘the haves’ verse ‘the have nots’ is gutter reporting and unbecoming of you as owner/editor of the Bass Coast Post.
- Former Mayor/Councillor Rankine’s assertions are incorrect, and are ludicrous, coming from a person who stated ‘…we look after the living not the dead…” when referring to my probing questions on the parlous state of the Wonthaggi Public Cemetery. I have previously sought legal advice from Julian Burnside QC, however never claimed him as a friend as incorrectly stated by the now Mr Rankine – a former disgruntled councillor.
- I described to you by telephone yesterday in great depth my position with State Trustees which was divulged to you in confidence, and you have breached that trust by portraying an inaccurate and damaging account. As advised to you, I left my position as General Manager State Trustees after a period of 5 years. The mutually agreeable parting of ways was as a result of the sudden death of my wife and my choice to take time out from work to care for my three young children – 14 year old twins and a seven year old. I have no doubt I would have continued in my position with State Trustees had this traumatic event not occurred, and you are seriously incorrect in your assertions, and you have ‘crossed the line’ through breach of trust and intentional attack on my character, and importantly, you have seriously misled your readers and our community, and caused further great harm to my family.
Neil Rankine responds:
I distinctively remember Mr Larke making the statement that he would spend his last cent using his good friend Julian Burnside to take me to the high court. At this time Mr Larke had been threatening the shire with various legal actions for some time but without following through and he was clearly very frustrated. I too was very frustrated as the officer time and legal expenses required were creating a deficit in the council cemetery trust budget, for which I thought there were better uses.
I distinctively remember Mr Larke making the statement that he would spend his last cent using his good friend Julian Burnside to take me to the high court. At this time Mr Larke had been threatening the shire with various legal actions for some time but without following through and he was clearly very frustrated. I too was very frustrated as the officer time and legal expenses required were creating a deficit in the council cemetery trust budget, for which I thought there were better uses.