Michael Gorey resigns after four years at Bundaberg Council

Jack Dempsey’s chief of staff has been a prominent and at times controversial figure since joining the council payroll four years ago. This is what he and the council had to say.

The Bundaberg Regional Council heavyweight who established a ratepayer-funded council news site and convinced Mayor Jack Dempsey to run as an independent in the May 2022 federal election, has resigned.

Mr Gorey confirmed on Thursday he was leaving his job as Mr Dempsey’s chief of staff to take on a new challenge, though exactly what that challenge was he did not say.

“I’m finishing at council after four and a half years to begin a new challenge,” Mr Gorey said.

“I’ll be discussing next steps with my family before I do so publicly.”

When the council communications department was asked to confirm the high level resignation on Tuesday its response was: “The CEO does not comment publicly on staff matters”.

Mr Dempsey has also been contacted for comment.

Mr Gorey first joined the council payroll as executive officer of communications in January 2018, before he was promoted to the Mayor’s chief of staff in February 2021.

He was responsible for internal and external communications and the creation and management of Bundaberg Now, the council news website, which has come under fire from previous Federal Minister of Communications, Paul Fletcher, who called for it to be shut down.

When questioned on how much the site cost ratepayers to run each year, Mr Gorey said $5000, but the council website said $6000. The figure quoted in a speech Mr Gorey made at the National Local Government IT Conference in Coffs Harbour on December 6, 2019, which was also published to his LinkedIn page, was ten times that amount.

The Bundaberg Regional Council heavyweight who established a ratepayer-funded council news site and convinced Mayor Jack Dempsey to run as an independent in the May 2022 federal election, has resigned.

He said at the time that the cost including journalists was “ … about $60,000 per year and we’ve reduced our newspaper advertising by $90,000 per year”.

“The team working on Bundaberg Now comprises myself, two full-time communications officers, the part-time journalist, a video producer and a multimedia trainee,” he said.

Mr Gorey’s next move thrust his boss into the election spotlight.

He admitted he had convinced Mr Dempsey to run as an independent candidate in the federal election, and created the JackForHinkler website.

The senior council staffer said in April 2022 he had conversations with Mr Dempsey over “many” months as to whether the former state MP and Newman government minister should run.

“I urged him to do so because of the neglect that Bundaberg and Hervey Bay have experienced under the current Member,” Mr Gorey said.

“Jack was concerned about the impacts on his family, frequent travel and leaving the council mid-term.

“I registered a domain name, set up a sample website and tried to convince Jack that he should run.”

News of Mr Gorey’s resignation was circulated to council members three weeks after the Office of the independent Assessor ordered Mr Dempsey update his register of interests to include details of donations made to his failed bid for federal election.

It remains unclear if Bundaberg Now will continue once Mr Gorey leaves, and whether his role of the Mayor’s chief of staff will be advertised or filled.