By Anthony Segaert,Ellie Busby
Publication Date: 2026-05-20 21:34:00
A senior City of Parramatta employee confided in a colleague that she had committed plagiarism while completing the Australian Institute of Company Directors course and that the council leader had covered it up, the ICAC has learned.
The allegations were made at a private session of Tuesday’s hearing of the Independent Commission Against Corruption as part of Operation Navarre, the investigation into three council executives, the minutes of which were made public late on Wednesday.
John Crawford, the council’s former head of IT, told the commission that Roxanne Thornton – the group leader of the Mayor’s Office and CEO and one of the so-called Pink Ladies on the council – told him that she had committed plagiarism “twice” while completing the course.
“The first was using AI to…submit an assignment,”…
