‘Target on my back’: Is someone out to get Bruce Devereaux?

Gympie councillor Bruce Devereaux has just seen off the fifth ‘anonymous’ complaint made against him to the state watchdog

Councillor Bruce Devereaux says he feels there is a target on his back after yet another complaint against him to the State’s watchdog was dismissed.

Bruce Devereaux believes there is a target on his back after the outspoken Gympie councillor was cleared of another complaint against him made to the State's watchdog.

Mr Devereaux revealed on Tuesday the complaint was made about comments he posted on his Bruce Devereaux GRC Councillor page about the council's controversial decision to repeal two environmental protection laws in its planning scheme.

The Division 4 councillor was accused of misleading the public by saying the council was faced with an "all or nothing" decision about whether to keep or remove the laws.

He said the Office of the independent Assessor had dismissed the complaint after looking at his comments online, records of the council meeting and considering the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019.

The majority of the complaints have been made about Mr Devereaux’s comments on his councillor Facebook page.

It is the fifth complaint Mr Devereaux has been made aware of against him in less than 12 months.

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Three of them have been dismissed; two have been returned to the council for investigation.

The majority have been connected in some manner to his Facebook page.

"What I really hate is people vote you in because they connect with you … and then you have to become this vanilla personality," Mr Devereaux said.

"It's hard.

"You go from being a person they can talk to … and suddenly you feel you should disconnect."

Mr Devereaux said recent comments made on his personal Facebook page have left him feeling there is a target on his back.

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He said the number of complaints had made him feel like there was a target on his back, especially in light of recent comments left on his personal Facebook page by another user who said they were "the person that's going to help get you sacked!".

"I just thought 'oh wow' because I'm doing so much wrong," Mr Devereaux said.

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