Salisbury Council orders councillor Beau Brug to undergo social media training over Facebook prizes
A councillor has breached his council’s code of conduct by offering goods he solicited from retailers as prizes on his personal Facebook page.
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A councillor has been ordered to undergo social media training after breaching his council’s code of conduct by asking businesses to donate prizes for his Facebook page.
Salisbury Council received complaints about the activities of Labor Party member Beau Brug, prompting an investigation by a law firm, Kelledy Jones.
Councillors met behind closed doors on Monday to determine what, if any, action should be taken against Cr Brug.
They discussed a confidential report by Kelledy Jones which found Cr Brug breached the council’s code of conduct by not distinguishing on his Facebook posts that he was offering the prizes as a private individual — not as a councillor.
According to a staff report publicly released, Cr Brug had “taken proactive steps” to rectify the issue since it was brought to his attention.
“Cr Brug used his position as a councillor to solicit free goods from local businesses which he used as prizes in ‘competitions’ run on his personal Facebook page,” said the report.
“The local businesses being led to believe that they would benefit from participating in these competitions, for example, through obtaining more social media traffic to their business pages and/or business exposure.”
Councillors decided to order Cr Brug to undergo social media training.
The directive comes as other elected members prepare to attend a workshop on social media early next month.
The issue of social media posts has arisen at Salisbury Council before, with another councillor Chad Buchanan, breaching the code of conduct over comments he made about a new $43.8 million community hub.
Lawyers have told councils across the state that councillors must make it clear that they are making comments or expressing opinions as private individuals — not as elected members.
Cr Buchanan told Monday night’s meeting the situation that he and Cr Brug had found themselves in reinforced the need for councillors to receive social media training.
He also called on clear directions to be given to councillors to enable them to express their opinions without fear of retribution or punishment.
Other councils such as Onkaparinga, Adelaide City and Gawler had tried to restrict their councillors from speaking to the media or making public comments, he said.
“We, as a council, seriously need to look at our media policy,” said Cr Buchanan.
“It is important that we have a policy that enables councillors to go about our role.”
Cr Buchanan said councillors “should be able to go about discharging their duties and representing their constituents, even if it means speaking against council decisions”.
“It is what is called democracy,” he said.
“We are not staff so we are not subject to toeing the company line.
“An elected member should be able to speak out.”
Cr Brug, a young law graduate who represents Mawson Lakes, declined to comment, citing legal advice.
A regular Facebook user, he frequently promotes the Mawson Lakes Lions Club and other community organisations.
He also was largely responsible for convincing Salisbury Council to spend thousands on a carp competition at Mawson Lakes in April and helped organise sponsorship.
While 600 anglers registered for the competition, the results were disappointing with only five fish caught.
Cr Brug did not attend Monday’s meeting where his code of conduct was discussed.