WAtoday has been told at least nine of the 10 trips were already in Ms Scaffidi's travel schedule by the end of January. Lisa Scaffidi had extensive overseas travel plans for 2018. But further emails obtained by WAtoday show City of Perth CEO Martin Mileham and Ms Scaffidi both denied any knowledge of her planned travel. They did this in separate emails to other elected members, in the midst of the drama engulfing the council the Labor government described as "appalling" and the Liberal opposition as "toxic". In an email on February 15, Mr Mileham wrote that he could "confirm that there is no potential travel scheduled for or planned future travel/international travel for the LM at this time". An email from City of Perth CEO Martin Mileham.

In an email on February 7, a month after she returned to office, Ms Scaffidi responded to a question from another councillor about whether she had any further travel planned. "Right now I REPEAT there is nothing I'm aware of," Ms Scaffidi wrote. Ms Scaffidi denied having any travel plans in an email to a councillor. According to her schedule as shown in the emails, one of Ms Scaffidi's 10 trips is already supposed to have occurred: last week, for the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors in Canberra. An event spokesperson told WAtoday "Perth had sent their apologies" about its non-attendance. The next scheduled appointment for Ms Scaffidi was a $10,000 overseas trip on March 25 to Taipei for the 2018 Smart City Summit and Expo, which had already been approved by the City of Perth executive.

Mr Mileham took personal leave shortly in late February after Ms Scaffidi returned, due to claims of an unsafe workplace. Then acting CEO Robert Mianich also took personal leave citing the same reasons. Martin Mileham has been CEO at the City of Perth since 2016. Credit:City of Perth The farce eventually led to the entire council, including Ms Scaffidi, being suspended and replaced by three independent commissioners, while a panel inquiry determines whether to sack them. Ms Scaffidi's influence at the City of Perth changed dramatically after last October's council elections when two of her closest allies lost their seats and the lord mayor her balance of power.

Trips booked despite cloudy future Ms Scaffidi had already scheduled several costly trips up until November 2018, including: a $15,000 trip to Houston for 11 days over April-May for a four-day event

a $15,000 trip to Malaysia for eight days in October for a four-day event This was despite her uncertain future, with the SAT proceedings already having the potential to suspend her over the remaining 19 travel reporting breaches, even before the fresh state investigation into the entire council was ordered. Loading

A Local Government investigation determined Ms Scaffidi had breached the Act 45 times during 33 of 65 trips during a seven-year period and referred her penalty to the SAT, which suspended her for 18 months on September 4 for improper disclosure. She temporarily stood down from official duties on September 7, when the disqualification was to take effect, but returned to her role on January 8 after a successful appeal in December, where 26 of the 45 breaches were dismissed. The 58-year-old will run the SAT gauntlet again, with a new panel to decide whether she will be fined, suspended or disqualified from holding office for the remaining 19 more serious breaches.

A history of frequent flying Ms Scaffidi's frequent overseas travel was laid bare during the SAT hearing, which was told she had taken 65 international and 47 interstate trips from January 2008 and October 2015.

One infamous junket was highlighted by Ms Scaffidi's demands in an email to a staff member booking her trip. "Hope five star — let them know, I don't stay in trash," her email read. Her travel scandal began when the FBI investigated BHP Billiton over hospitality provided to government officials, including Ms Scaffidi (and her husband Joe) to attend the 2008 Beijing Olympics. BHP was subsequently fined $US25 million, with the FBI alerting the Australian Federal Police about Ms Scaffidi's attendance there. A subsequent 2015 Corruption and Crime Commission investigation into her travel activities made adverse findings.