Fraser Coast councillors subject of 10 complaints to OIA

Allegations councillors made “inappropriate” comments on social media have dominated complaints about the Fraser Coast Regional Council to the State Government’s council watchdog this year.

The State Governmnet’s misconduct watchdog has dismissed 10 compliants about Fraser Coast councillors this year, several of which related to comments made on social media.

Allegations councillors made “inappropriate” comments on social media have dominated complaints about the Fraser Coast Regional Council to the Office of the Independent Assessor council watchdog this year.

The OIA has been forced to rule on 10 allegations of inappropriate conduct or misconduct since the start of the year.

The OIA took no action on any of the complaints, which were recorded in the council’s councillor conduct register.

One complaint alleged an unnamed councillor sent a person an “inappropriate” message on Facebook Messenger.

It further claimed this was “unbecoming” of a councillor and they “repeatedly pitted” not-for-profit organisations against each other.

The OIA found the complaints failed to meet the threshold for suspicion of misconduct.

The Assessor dismissed the matter, saying the message failed to raise a reasonable suspicion of misconduct and the complainant provided no evidence about the not-for-profit allegations.

Another complaint to the OIA alleged an unnamed councillor used “offensive and demeaning misogynist language” in a post regarding the New Zealand election result, which returned Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister.

The watchdog took no further action after an investigation by its legal team.

In June, the OIA threw out allegations one former councillor failed to disclose conflicts of interest while elected, and another failed to declare interests for council-considered projects involving developers which had donated to them.

The 10 complaints about Fraser Coast councillors were less than the number lodged against Bundaberg and Gympie councillors in the same period. Photo Lachie Millard

The OIA said the complainant did not respond to requests for further information.

Other allegations dismissed by the OIA included that a councillor used their private social media account to make “inappropriate” comments on a community Facebook page and that a councillor called another councillor and “pressured” them about a matter to be discussed in an upcoming meeting.

The OIA said any further investigation of either matter was an unjustifiable use of resources and dropped them.

The 10 complaints are slightly less than the number Bundaberg Regional councillors have drawn since the start of the year.

Gympie Regional councillors have had 14 complaints thrown out over the same period.