Councillor fails to register home she has owned for 23 years

Gympie councillor Dolly Jensen has promised to correct her official register of interests after a review revealed she had neglected to register a property she and her husband bought in 1998. Find out which Gympie councillors have the biggest property portfolios.

Councillor Dolly Jensen says she will correct her council Register of Interests after a review found the Theebine property she has owned form more than two decades was not listed.

Gympie Regional councillor Dolly Jensen said “an oversight” was the reason a property she has owned with her husband Graeme for more than 20 years was not listed on her local government register of interests.

The Jensens have owned their Theebine property since 1998, but as of Tuesday morning it was not recorded on Mrs Jensen’s register.

Mrs Jensen said “it was an error” and she would fix it.

“I had it on the written submission … I’m not sure why it’s not on the digital version,” she said.

Mrs Jensen’s register did include home and home improvement loans with the Commonwealth Bank.

Councillors are required under state legislation to list “any land or properties (they) own or have an interest in”.

This includes properties jointly owned.

Warren Polley has four properties listed on his register, including two businesses.

Mrs Jensen’s omission is not the first time a Gympie councillor has failed to declare an interest.

In mid-2019 a councillor self-referred themselves to the state watchdog, the Office of the Independent Assessor, after failing to update their register to include superannuation, part-ownership of a racehorse and motor vehicle leasing details.

The OIA closed the investigation and declined to take further action saying it would be “an unjustifiable use of resources”.

“The councillor had not voted on any matters relevant to the personal interests, he had corrected the entry in his register of interests and he had self-referred the matter advising the omission was in error,” it stated.

Mrs Jensen’s omission was found during a review of councillors’ registered properties undertaken by The Gympie Times.

Deputy Mayor Hilary Smerdon has two new properties listed on his register, replacing the farm he sold in May 2021.

Councillors Shane Waldock and Warren Polley have the two largest property portfolios on their registers.

Mr Waldock’s portfolio includes a Gympie home, two Gympie businesses (a service station and a general store) and a rental investment in the city.

Mr Polley claims two properties in Gympie, one residential and one commercial, another house at Jones Hill and a business at Tin Can Bay.

Mary Valley councillor Bob Fredman lists three properties: a 114-acre (46ha) farm at Gilldora, and two rentals, one at Buderim and one at Toowong.

Deputy mayor Hilary Smerdon’s register lists two properties.

A farm at Downsfield is the only property listed by Mayor Glen Hartwig. He has owned the property since 1998.

One is a duplex in Gympie bought in August 2020; the other is a 105ha farm at Woolooga which Mr Smerdon bought in December 2020.

The properties replace a Woolooga farm that was previously owned by Mr Smerdon but bought by solar farm developers for $1.5 million in May 2021.

Councillors Dan Stewart and Jess Milne also list two properties.

Mr Stewart’s register details a 2ha property at East Deep Creek, and an investment townhouse being rented out at Annerley in Brisbane’s south.

Ms Milne is the co-owner of a house at Tin Can Bay, and a 40-acre (16ha) home at Bauple.

Mayor Glen Hartwig’s register only lists a 62ha farm at Downsfield which he has owned since July 1998.

Division 4 councillor Bruce Devereaux also has one listed property, a home in Gympie.