Joondalup councillor Nige Jones calls it quits after strip club beer sparks scrutiny of his military record

Joondalup councillor Nige Jones has quit after his failed attempt to get ratepayers to pay for his beer at an Adelaide strip club sparked questions about his embellished military record. The former mayoral aspirant claimed he did not realise it was a strip club when he walked into the Crazy Horse Revue while travelling on council business, and that his reimbursement claim was a “genuine mistake” when he submitted other receipts. By Wednesday, he had resigned, despite still telling 7NEWS it was a genuine mistake. “I just got all the receipts together and put them all in, because that’s what I’d had while I was away,” Mr Jones said. “It wasn’t appropriate in the City of Joondalup capacity for me to be there, I understand that. I apologise to the ratepayers now, but yeah, it’s less than 20 minutes. “If I was pervert, I would’ve stayed and watched the dancers but I just left.” Premier Roger Cook had earlier called for his resignation. “This is about not whether someone has a glass of wine, not whether someone has interesting entertainment tastes, this is about using ratepayers’ funds for strippers and booze,” he said. “I don’t know how, or in what world, someone would think that that was acceptable.” Despite resigning, Mr Jones defended the ability of councillors to seek refunds for late-night refreshments. “When you go on these conferences, some of the best information and deals that happen are the networking,” he said. Challenged about the networking benefit was, on his own, at the Crazy Horse Revue, Mr Jones said: “You’re quite right”. “Look, it’s a mistake, and I take my consequence on the chin,” he said. He confirmed he wasn’t reimbursed for a Guinness elsewhere the same night, because “it was late”. But Mr Jones said questions about his military record were “infuriating” after it was revealed he had campaigned on his “service in the British Special Air Service Regiment” despite never obtaining his beret. The Australian SAS Historical Foundation has written to the City of Joondalup, asking for Cr Jones to stop wearing an SAS tie. He denied deliberately embellishing, insisting he was only allowed 150 words to describe himself in a candidate profile. “I was there for several months under (British SAS) instruction,” he said. “I’m limited to (150) words and I wanted to get a lot of the stuff that I’ve done in my life to try and make people think I was a worthy candidate”. He was also denied an Australian Defence Medal on the grounds he “did not complete his initial enlistment period” and had only completed two years’ service and not the four years required. “People have picked up on that and used it as a political weapon, discredited me,” Mr Jones said. “I find that insulting, especially when people who are keyboard warriors, who have never put a uniform never served their country.” Mr Jones’ resignation means he’s unlikely to be investigated by the State’s new local government inspector. It comes as the City of Perth launched its own cultural inquiry. New Perth Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds was forced to defend the City’s decision to spend up to $125,000 on a review of “workplace culture” after complaints that other councillors were only given six minutes’ notice to vote on the motion. Three voted against it. “The paperwork that came through today for the first phase is $70,000,” Mr Reynolds said. “We take workplace culture seriously and this is a step for us to have an oversight committee and a review and I think that’s a positive. “There was no blindside. It’s now an absolute majority decision of council and it will be administered in the next week.”