Tea Tree Gully Mayor rejects ‘ridiculous’ findings he called a colleague a ‘bloody idiot’
Tea Tree Gully Council Mayor Kevin Knight has rubbished an investigation as “ridiculous” which found he called a colleague a “bloody idiot” and breached the council’s code of conduct.
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Tea Tree Gully Council Mayor Kevin Knight has slammed an investigation which found he breached the council’s code of conduct nine times as the “most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life”.
The council voted on Tuesday night to not take any further action against Mr Knight for his conduct at two council meetings last year, despite the report finding him guilty.
Many councillors agreed the investigation was floored and shared Mr Knight’s sentiments.
The investigation, by law firm Minter Ellison, found Mr Knight called former councillor Paul Barbaro a “bloody idiot”, accused him of grandstanding and threatened to report him to ICAC.
Mr Knight rubbished the investigation’s findings.
“I found it really, really strange in the report... saying that I did not give compelling evidence that I did not say it, so therefore I must have said it,” Mr Knight said.
“It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life and I reject those findings.
“The disappointing thing for me... we have spent $10,000 of ratepayers money on an investigation into something that happened nearly a year ago, of which there is no official recording, to what end?
“I’ve spent $5000 of my own money, to achieve what?”
Mr Knight said there was no evidence on recorded audio of the September meeting where he allegedly called Mr Barbaro a “bloody idiot.”
“There is no doubt I raised my voice,” he said.
“I personally could not... hear the words ‘bloody idiot’.
“The mayor can’t raise his voice apparently.”
Mr Knight said he was no fan of the code of conduct system which afforded “little or absolutely no protection at all” to accused elected members.
“You have to prove you’re innocent, rather than whoever complains against you has to prove you’re guilty,” he said.
“We don’t have to like each other sometimes, we don’t have to agree... but I think we need to have a little bit of respect.
“The code of conduct, for all its good intent has destroyed respect and trust. Just ridiculous really.”
Mr Knight said the only code of conduct allegation he would take seriously from now on would have to involve corruption or fraudulent behaviour.
“All this he said, she said, we said, they said, is trivial. I think my residents are sick of it,” he said.
“I’m sorry you had to go through this.”
Cr Lucas Jones said the report was not satisfactory and did not have the “full picture”.
“We have every single right to criticise this report,” Cr Jones said.
“It saddens me this matter could not be dealt with by mediation.
“I did not hear him (Mr Knight) say those words.”
Cr Olivia Savvas was aghast at the cost.
“It’s a significant amount of money to put on ratepayers,” Cr Savvas said.
Brett Rankine was also confused by the report.
“I see a lot of things that don’t make a lot of sense,” Cr Rankine said.
“There is a lot of hearsay going on here.
“There is no evidence whether he called him a bloody idiot. Therefore there is no breach.
“It wasn’t worth the paper it was written on, it was all over the place. The evidence doesn’t stack up.”
Cr Peter Field said it was telling the state Ombudsman declined to intervene.
“If this was a matter of great seriousness surely those regulatory bodies would intervene,” he said.
Minter Ellison has been sought for comment.