August 27, 2014
The South Burnett Regional Council will present two motions to the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) Annual Conference in October this year calling for improvements to the current complaints process against councillors.
One of the motions calls on the State Government to amend the Local Government Act to give councillors the right to appear before the Department of Local Government’s Regional Conduct Review Panel (RCRP) to respond to any complaint made against them. It also calls for both councillors and complainants to be allowed to appeal any decisions handed down by the RCRP.
The second motion calls on the State Government to amend the Act so Council CEOs can undertake a detailed preliminary investigation of any complaint by providing guidelines on a process that should be followed, rather than automatically forwarding all complaints to the Department of Local Government with only minimal assessment.
Both motions were moved by Cr Damien Tessmann, who was fined $1000 by the RCRP in January after a complaint was lodged by Windera resident Ralph Percy.
In November 2012, Mr Percy alleged Cr Tessmann had provided misleading information to fellow councillors at a Council meeting in June or July that year regarding the Adermann family’s support for the sale of a portion of Kingaroy’s Adermann Park to St John’s Lutheran School.
Mr Percy also alleged Cr Tessmann had not engaged in meaningful community consultation about the matter.
The RCRP rejected the half of Mr Percy’s complaint relating to community consultation but found “on the balance of probabilities” Cr Tessmann had misled fellow councillors about the Adermann family’s views.
Cr Tessmann denied this, saying the Adermann family’s views had been contained in an email he had circulated to all councillors prior to the meeting.
The email had not been tabled at the Council meeting due to privacy concerns, he said.
When the RCRP handed down their findings in January this year, Cr Tessmann tried to appeal the decision on the grounds that he had not been given the opportunity to present this evidence to the RCRP.
But under the current Act, the RCRP’s decisions cannot be appealed.
In February, Cr Tessmann paid the $1000 fine and made a public apology at the SBRC’s public meeting in accordance with the RCRP’s instructions.
However, Cr Tessmann remains determined to clear his name.
He believes the current complaints process denies Queensland councillors natural justice – the right to present a defence, and the right to appeal a decision – and the Local Government Act needs updating to redress this.
In July, delegates to the LNP’s Annual Convention in Brisbane unanimously backed a call by Cr Tessmann and fellow councillor Kathy Duff to amend the Act.
At today’s monthly South Burnett Regional Council meeting, councillors voted unanimously to table both motions at the LGAQ’s 118th Annual Conference, which will be held in Mackay on October 27-29.
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