Kingborough councillor David Grace refuses to leave meeting, threatens to ‘go off my head one night’
by Lucy Shannon, ABC
A regular fortnightly council meeting in southern Tasmania descended into unrest after a councillor called a Deputy Mayor “girl” and yelled in an angry outburst that he might “go off my head … and tear this place apart”.
On Monday night, David Grace — a councillor for Kingborough Council, south of Hobart — was asked by Deputy Mayor Jo Westwood to stop interjecting.
Mr Grace had been asking questions throughout the meeting, but it was during discussion about rates relief for a developer that the tension escalated.
“I am getting very annoyed with you and I don’t want you interjecting anymore … if you keep interjecting I will eject you from this part of the meeting,” Ms Westwood said.
Read the full story here: Kingborough councillor David Grace refuses to leave meeting, threatens to ‘go off my head one night’ – ABC News
Media release – Local Government Association, 7 June 2022
Local government pushes for code of conduct review
The peak body representing Tasmanian councils is asking the State Government to urgently review the Code of Conduct Framework following the incident at Kingborough Council this morning.
LGAT President, Australian Local Government Association Vice President and West Tamar Mayor Christina Holmdahl said while the Association does not comment on individual council matters, it’s a stark reminder of the need for the promised changes to the Code of Conduct framework to be progressed.
“We are concerned the proposed amendments to the Local Government Act 1993 hasn’t happened yet, despite the Government committing to do so in December last year,” Mayor Holmdahl said.
“It is a high priority for the sector as the current code of conduct framework is failing us,” she said.
The current system spends unnecessary time and resources on dealing with trivial matters, while on the occasions when serious misconduct occurs, the framework fails to sanction the breaches adequately.
“These shortcomings are at the core of the local government sector’s concerns over the framework,” she said.
In addition to the Code of Conduct review, LGAT, with the support of the State Government, has recently commissioned a study into workplace health and safety for elected representatives.
“This work is due to conclude in mid-July and will look at the extent of the issues of elected representative bullying and harassment and what support is available to representatives experiencing it in their role on council,” Mayor Holmdahl said.
