The former chief executive of a local government in Perth’s well-heeled western suburbs has launched defamation action over a press release the council issued following a damning auditor-general report.

William “Bill” Parker was chief executive of the City of Nedlands from 2022 until the end of 2023, when he took up his current post at the City of Wanneroo.

Parker has now dragged Nedlands council to court, with a writ filed in the WA Supreme Court this week alleging he was defamed in a media release put out in October 2024 after the auditor-general rejected an audit of the city’s 2022-23 finances.

The Office of the Auditor General had pored over 137 local government financial reports for the year ending July 2023, and of those only Nedlands had received a “disclaimer of opinion”.

The c

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