Kylie Lang: Stink over sleeping snap fails to see the big picture

There’s a big stink embroiling a Queensland council and it has nothing to do with roads, rates or rubbish. It’s about a photo, writes Kylie Lang.

There’s a big stink embroiling the Toowoomba Regional Council and it has nothing to do with roads, rates or rubbish.

It’s about a photo.

The photo is not scandalous by today’s standards – it’s not of a penis plonked in a glass of wine and sent to a mistress, as was the case preceding the dumping of Redlands MP Peter Dowling in 2014.

The photo is not of a would-be politician groping women in Thai bars and boasting about it on Facebook in 2019 – whatever did happen to One Nation’s then candidate for Leichhardt, Ross Macdonald?

The photo is of a councillor asleep in a meeting.

Kerry Shine, a former Attorney-General under premiers Peter Beattie and Anna Bligh, joined Toowoomba Regional Council in 2020.

Earlier this year, a colleague snapped him dozing in the chamber.

The pic was shared with another councillor and ended up on social media a few weeks before the March local government elections.

Certainly, it’s not crash hot that Mr Shine was catching shut-eye on the public purse.

But why the vitriol that has spewed forth for the person who took the photo?

A cartoon from the Toowoomba Chronicle depicting Kerry Shine and Rebecca Vonhoff.

Deputy Mayor Rebecca Vonhoff has been accused of discrediting Mr Shine and damaging the council’s reputation.

Some people have demanded she resign while others online have suggested she take her own life. I’m not kidding.

Ms Vonhoff is no doubt regretting taking that photo and forwarding it to a colleague – but the fallout does not fit that questionable error of judgment.

Local media coverage has been extensive but I’m at a loss to understand why the behaviour of Ms Vonhoff is commanding so much attention.

Since the end of May, the pursuit of naming and shaming the person who took the photo along with who uploaded it to social media – Ms Vonhoff denies it was she – has been peculiarly intense.

Ms Vonhoff is a former journalist and deputy editor of The Chronicle in Toowoomba and is a member of the LNP.

Mr Shine is a former solicitor who founded Shine Lawyers in 1977 and is a member of the Labor Party.

I’ve never met either of them, but why has the issue of a councillor being asleep in a meeting not been addressed?

If it’s because, well, council meetings can be dry so Mr Shine can be forgiven for nodding off, then what’s the big deal about a photo of him doing so?

As I’ve said, the image is not scandalous however a scandal has indeed been whipped up, with Ms Vonhoff at the centre of it.

Toowoomba Regional Councillor Kerry Shine. Picture: Kevin Farmer

On Wednesday this week, an under-pressure Ms Vonhoff referred herself to the local government watchdog, the Office of the Independent Assessor.

She said in a statement “the OIA process will unfold according to legislation and I’ll accept the outcomes including any judgment”.

Two days earlier, she issued another statement saying she took the photo.

“Within the council chamber, if someone dozed off we would occasionally draw each other’s attention to it and if possible, subtly wake them,” she said.

“There are multiple cameras inside (the) chamber and no rules against taking photos. I did not circulate the photo outside (the) chamber and had hoped for everyone’s sake – including my colleague’s – that this matter would cease to be commented on but this has not been the case.

“Instead, it has been vigorously pursued.

“I have apologised to Cr Shine and am grateful for his forgiveness. I’m sorry to everyone who I have let down.”

As for Mr Shine, the only public comment he has made was in late May: “We all have phones and we can all take photos, so if people do take photos, they should be aware of the consequences of sharing it.”

Time to move on.

There are more pressing concerns for a council which covers a vast and diverse slice of Queensland.

This week’s stunning decision to release a huge volume of drinkable water from Toowoomba’s main dam – to facilitate costly upgrades to the Cressbrook spillway when much of the region is in the grip of water restrictions – is proof.

Look at the bigger picture.

LOVE

Both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton promising to get tough on social media age limits for teens. Raising the account age to 16 and seeing that it actually happens in practice is a necessary and overdue step towards keeping kids safe.

LOATHE

Treasurer Cameron Dick telling Queenslanders to forget about the Palaszczuk years as Labor struggles to rebrand ahead of the October election. Impossible to forget them, particularly for the many people impacted by youth crime, housing affordability and public health disasters.

Kylie Lang is Associate Editor of The Courier-Mail
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