{"id":201401,"date":"2018-02-16T13:06:18","date_gmt":"2018-02-16T03:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=201401"},"modified":"2020-08-07T13:28:52","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T03:28:52","slug":"fraser-coast-mayor-sacked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/02\/16\/fraser-coast-mayor-sacked\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraser Coast Mayor Sacked"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_199587\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-199587\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/chrisloft1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-199587\" title=\"Chris Loft\" src=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/chrisloft1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"242\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-199587\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Fraser Coast Mayor<br \/>Chris Loft<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>February 16, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fraser Coast Mayor and WBBROC member Cr Chris Loft has been sacked by Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe for alleged breaches of the Councillor&#8217;s Code Of Conduct.<\/p>\n<p>The Wide Bay Burnett Regional Organisation of Councils (WBBROC) was formed in 1999 to represent the interests of councils within the Wide Bay Burnett region and is made up of representatives from the South Burnett, Cherbourg, North Burnett, Gympie, Bundaberg and Fraser Coast councils.<\/p>\n<p>Gympie mayor Mick Curran is currently Chairman of WBBROC and South Burnett mayor Keith Campbell is Deputy Chairman. Mayor Chris Loft was Treasurer.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This week I exercised my power under the Local Government Act to recommend Governor-in-Council dismiss Councillor Chris Loft as Mayor of Fraser Coast Regional Council,&#8221; Mr Hinchliffe said on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The dismissal of Councillor Loft is effective from 10:00am today. I have not taken this decision lightly.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The evidence that Councillor Loft is unfit for office is clear and unequivocal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To date, there have been 11 findings of either inappropriate conduct of misconduct against Councillor Loft.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mr Hinchliffe said these findings included:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Breaches of the Councillor&#8217;s Code of Conduct<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Repeated inappropriate use of media<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Failure to comply with Council\u2019s IT systems policy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Use of position to influence an employee of a council-controlled entity to covertly provide financial information<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Improper disclosure of confidential council information to a third party<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Failure to comply with Council\u2019s Public Interest Disclosure policy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u201cGiven the flagrant nature of Cr Loft\u2019s breaches, I am satisfied that dismissal is the right course of action,&#8221; Mr Hinchliffe said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have formed the view that Cr Loft still does not understand his legislative responsibilities and is not truly remorseful for his past behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven genuine remorse could not alter the fact that Cr Loft has made serial breaches of the Local Government principles outlined in the Local Government Act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe likelihood that Cr Loft may continue to engage in similar conduct in future is something that I\u2019m not prepared to take a risk on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear, my decision to dismiss Cr Loft has nothing to do with any matter currently before the courts, any current investigation or any charges laid by the CCC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder Section 164 of the Local Government Act, a vacancy in the position of Mayor must be filled by a by-election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe timing of that by-election will depend upon the provisions of the Local Government Electoral Act and is ultimately a matter for the Acting Queensland Electoral Commissioner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo the people of the Fraser Coast, I say thank you for your patience on this matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will soon have a chance to elect a new Mayor, who can better represent you and your interests, and the interests of the Fraser Coast region.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Footnote: southburnett.com.au is not suggesting any of the allegations against Cr Loft relate to his activities at WBBROC.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Related article: <a href=\"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/01\/fraser-coast-mayor-faces-sack\/\">Fraser Coast Mayor Faces Sack<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fraser Coast Mayor and WBBROC member Cr Chris Loft has been sacked by Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe for alleged breaches of the Councillor&#8217;s Code Of Conduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":270677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,3],"tags":[1131],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fraser Coast Mayor Sacked<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fraser Coast Mayor and WBBROC member Cr Chris Loft has been sacked by Local Government Minister Stirling Hinchliffe for alleged breaches of the Councillor&#039;s Code Of Conduct.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/02\/16\/fraser-coast-mayor-sacked\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fraser Coast Mayor 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