Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has refused to step down. Credit:Heather McNeill The four councillors, who have publicly declared their unwavering support for Ms Scaffidi and often vote with her on most council issues affecting Perth, left council chambers after an application for City of Perth sponsorship of the 2017 Hopman Cup was discussed at last Tuesday's meeting on October 25. Councillors Adamos, Davidson and Yong revealed they had received hospitality from Tennis Australia valued at $1152 each and Cr Chen $480, for last January's event. On October 11, the four councillors voted in favour of a cash sponsorship of $95,380 (excluding GST) to Tennis Australia for the 2017 Hopman Cup from January 1-7. Cr Adamos said the quartet used the hospitality gift to "host stakeholders".

Jemma Green wanted to enact an alfresco dining trial around Perth. Credit:Linkedin WAtoday has asked the City of Perth for a copy of their guest list for the 2016 event. WA Labor leader Mark McGowan last week vowed to replace the council if he was elected Premier next March, highlighting the lack of accountability from Ms Scaffidi and fellow councillors had persisted far too long. "The reports, the level of entitlement, the disobeying of standards, rules and the law of the state that's gone on at the City of Perth is unacceptable," Mr McGowan said. "When that CCC report [into Ms Scaffidi] came down and showed the level of travel and perks and non-declaration and failure to comply with the rules, and the findings of misconduct and the like, that did it for me."

The Lord Mayor has ignored growing public dissent and widespread calls for her to resign since the Corruption and Crime Commission found she had engaged in serious misconduct by accepting undeclared travel and gifts. The allegations relate to Ms Scaffidi's attendance at 21 events from 2008 to 2015, including a BHP-funded $US36,000 business class trip to the Beijing Olympics with her husband Joe, and an accommodation package at an exclusive Broome resort paid by property developer Hawaiian Investments. Ms Scaffidi subsequently presided over council decisions that gave BHP and Hawaiian Investments a financial incentive. The Perth Lord Mayor is currently attempting mediation with the Department of Local Government over its report alleging she breached the Local Government Act 45 times by accepting prohibited gifts and failing to properly declare others during the seven-year period. Read: the full report into Lisa Scaffidi's lack of travel reporting

Ms Scaffidi has continually denied any wrongdoing, maintaining her failure to properly declare the gifts and travel was due to flawed guidelines and policies at the council. Perth councillors reject alfresco dining Meanwhile, Perth councillors Adamos, Yong, Davidson and Judy McEvoy, another ally of Ms Scaffidi, denied a motion by councillor Jemma Green at Tuesday night's meeting to approve a six-month trial of alfresco dining in the city. Struggling restaurant and bar owners had urged the council to act immediately to boost local trade after venues had suffered financially from the long winter, with some reporting a 30 per cent downturn in trade compared to the same time last year. But the councillors voted against accelerating the council's planned review of their alfresco dining rules and rejected enacting the trial, which proponents say would add much vibrancy to Perth's city streetscapes, ala Melbourne, London and Paris.

Ms Green, fellow councillor Reece Harley and deputy Lord Mayor James Limnios voted in favour of the summer dining trial. The council last Tuesday also settled the complex issue of whether a hotel owned by Ms Scaffidi should be heritage listed, almost two years after the matter came before them and only when the Lord Mayor removed herself from the process. The City of Perth was also criticised last week for its proposed independent audit of its "operations, systems and procedures" after a series of compliance issues in the past 12 months led Mr McGowan to recently label the council as "dysfunctional". WA Labor said the audit would not be enough to address the council's transparency and accountability issues. "The City of Perth's representatives opposed any proposals to increase transparency, which were requested at last year's WALGA Conference," Labor spokesperson David Templeman told the Guardian Express last week.