Salisbury Deputy Mayor Brad Vermeer to apologise for comparing east‘s Robert Bria to dictator

A COUNCILLOR from Adelaide’s north will have to publicly apologise to an eastern suburbs’ mayor after comparing him to a communist dictator during a meeting.

SALISBURY Deputy Mayor Brad Vermeer will be forced to publicly apologise for comparing an eastern mayor to a communist dictator during a council meeting this year.

Code of Conduct documents released last week showed Cr Vermeer told the council that Norwood, Payneham & St Peters Mayor Robert Bria made “Mao Tse-Tung look like Genghis Khan”, during a meeting on March 23.

The comments were in response to the results of the Local Government Association board elections, which gave Onkaparinga, Charles Sturt, Unley, Mitcham, Campbelltown, Burnside, Adelaide and Norwood, Payneham & St Peters mayors primary positions.

Cr Vermeer said the comments were made “in frustration” during a “heated debate” about the election results, which demoted Salisbury Mayor Gillian Aldridge to a deputy position.

It meant she would be able to attend and speak at board meetings, but only cast a vote if acting in place of a primary board member.

He said Mr Bria’s “left wing” approach to council matters did not align with Salisbury’s approach, and he would therefore not be suitable to represent the northern district.

“His views and the view of the eastern council would not come close to resembling the concerns of, and issues facing, the residents of Salisbury,” Cr Vermeer, who is a Liberal Party member, said last week.

He also believed an individual, who was not Mr Bria, had placed pressure on fellow councillors to vote for a certain candidate in the election, but he would not name either party.

“In my view there were significant efforts being made to influence the decision my colleagues and I were attempting to make regarding the council’s votes for the vacancies on the Local Government Association Board,” Cr Vermeer said.

“I felt as if pressure was being applied … to make a decision that would satisfy certain parties.

“That’s not how I operate and therefore my comments were made to demonstrate my frustration with how the entire process had been carried out.”

An investigation by KelledyJones Lawyers found Cr Vermeer breached Salisbury’s Code of Conduct, which states councillors must show respect for others when making public comment.

The lawyers recommended Cr Vermeer “make a verbal apology to Mayor Bria”.

Councillors at a meeting last week backed the recommendation and requested Cr Vermeer make an apology, to be noted on the public record, at the full council meeting on September 28.

Mr Bria told the Northern Messenger he was not sure what had initially spurred the comments, but was happy with the outcome of the investigation.

“I’m not sure what I have done to upset Cr Vermeer, given I have never met him or spoken to him, but it is a matter for Salisbury Council and they have made their decision,” Mr Bria said.

“I’m not hurt by the comments — to me, they are just juvenile, throwaway comments.”

At the same March 23 meeting, Cr Vermeer also allegedly claimed Charles Sturt Mayor Angela Keneally had received “a substantially large cash injection” during her election campaign from Parliamentary Speaker and Member for Croydon Michael Atkinson.

The same investigation found there was no evidence to back the claims.

Cr Vermeer was asked to make a formal apology to Ms Keneally and enter a formal correction into council documents, which he did during the full council meeting on April 27