George Christensen resigns from Mackay council committee at last minute before flying to Canberra

Fresh from a trip to Europe in which the now-Mackay councillor live streamed into meetings, he came back to the city for a quick photo op and resigned from his only other council commitment before dashing off to Canberra. See how his colleagues feel.

Councillor George Christensen has resigned from his council committee hours before first meeting.

Shortly after touching back down in Mackay from Europe, Councillor George Christensen resigned his seat on a council committee before flying to Canberra.

Mr Christensen lodged his resignation from the Regional Infrastructure Strategic Committee 16 hours ahead of its first official meeting, and revealed it to his Facebook followers nine days later, just hours after this masthead started asking questions.

His Sunday, August 11 committee resignation was submitted shortly after he made a video holding up a copy of the Daily Mercury front page story asking ‘Where’s George’ — first published Friday, August 9.

Council committees, missed chances

Each councillor is assigned to one of five strategic committees whose role is to meet with relevant community and interest groups and assist in strategic planning.

It is one of few expectations as part of the role, other than attending council meetings.

George Christensen posted this photo of himself protesting a Pandemic Treaty by the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland to his 'Nation First' substack page. Picture: George Christensen/Nation First

Mr Christensen was assigned to the regional infrastructure committee alongside Councillor Martin Bella, after nominating to be part of it.

Mr Bella said that two “formative” meetings were held to determine the committees structure and function, with himself, a council director and Mr Christensen expected to attend to speak with members of the community.

“We have the three committee members, expert advisers, they might be staff, and we have community submitters,” Mr Bella said.

“What that committee would then do is listen to what was put forward and then advance that to the wider council for them to consider and possibly make decisions on.”

Councillor Martin Bella was selected as the chair for the infrastructure committee with Mr Christensen as his deputy. Picture: Heidi Petith

Mr Bella said this structure was chosen during their formative meetings to ensure all community groups were given equal opportunity to represent themselves to the committee.

According to Mr Bella, Mr Christensen was absent from these meetings, although he was kept in the loop via emailed reports and requests for feedback.

The first official meeting was scheduled for Monday, August 12.

Last minute resignation

Mr Bella made a post on Facebook at 1.09pm on Sunday, August 11, claiming that Mr Christensen’s video posts holding a copy of the Daily Mercury had been an attempt to “salvage reputation by returning early”.

“How long till you go again and for how long?” Mr Bella asked on social media.

“Seeya tomorrow sunshine …”

Mr Bella has vocally criticised Belinda Hassan for her ALP run and Mr Christensen for his absence from council. Photo: Facebook

By 1.54pm, Mr Christensen sent his resignation to Mayor Greg Williamson and council CEO Scott Owen.

Just over an hour later he made a post from the Mackay Airport saying he was “off to Canberra for meetings”.

Mr Bella was irritated that Mr Christensen had resigned just 16 hours before their first official meeting with a community group at 9am on August 12.

“We all have other aspects to our lives, private lives, business lives, we all do,” Mr Bella said.

“But I think most people would accept that when you give a commitment to the community, that you will do your level best to actually attend things that really matter.”

While Mr Bella chaired the first public meeting of the infrastructure committee, Mr Christensen travelled to Canberra and met with Pauline Hanson. Photo: Facebook

On August 12 Mr Christensen met with Pauline Hanson in Canberra while Mr Bella met with representatives from the Road Accident Action Group (RAAG).

“Regional infrastructure is very important and I feel it deserved more respect,” Mr Bella said.

Less than two hours after the Daily Mercury started contacting councillors to ask them if they’ve ever missed a committee meeting, and whether they believe they could do their jobs as effectively from overseas, Mr Christensen decided to post his resignation on his Facebook page, nine days after the fact.

“The infrastructure strategic committee has no external representation,” Mr Christensen wrote.
“After some deliberation on this I find that there is no real point to this committee given the entire purpose of the strategic committees (as I saw it) was to engage the community.”

Rod Erwin, RAAG chairman, is a member of the community who engaged with the committee and said his meeting had been “very worth while”.

“We were given a great audience,” Mr Erwin said.

“It was our initiative to approach council, I find Mr Bella very approachable.

“RAAG has a very good rapport and two way communication with council and Marty’s committee.”

Councillors Jones, May and Sheedy have all attended their committee meetings and are excited to meet with the public.

How other Mackay councillors approach committees

While Mr Christensen has been absent from committee formative meetings, his fellow councillors Alison Jones, Peter Sheedy, Belinda Hassan and deputy mayor Karen May have attended each meeting mandatory or otherwise.

“I’ve been to everyone of them,” Mr Sheedy of the sustainability committee said.

“I’m here and available for the lot.”

Mrs Jones sits on the sustainability committee with Mr Sheedy and said after three meetings they were still finalising the format of their committee and were locking in dates in September and October.
“We’ve had a few meetings between myself, peter and the director to talk about extra members to pull it all together,” Mrs Jones said.
Co-chairing the liveability and social inclusion committee, Karen May said she had definitely not missed any of her meetings.

“I’m excited about having the opportunity to really think about how to strategically tackle liveability,” Mrs May said.

"I'm in Mackay, mystery solved" said Mr Christensen after returning from Europe and hours before flying to Canberra from Mackay Airport.

Mr Christensen’s resignation follows him livestreaming into the last two council meetings via microsoft teams, on account of his being in Europe while working for his other employer, hard right Christian advocacy organisation CitizenGo.

Mrs May, Mrs Jones and Mr Sheedy all said that they had no other job, other than council, so that they can focus on representing the community.

All agreed they would not be able to work as councillors effectively from overseas.

Mr Sheedy took the opportunity to say that all of his interactions with Mr Christensen had been constructive but said he was unaware that Mr Christensen had resigned his committee.

Mackay Regional Council CEO Scott Owen said it had endorsed terms of reference for five Strategic Advisory Committees recently.

Those committees were beginning to meet and minutes would be included in ordinary council meeting agendas, including next week’s meeting.

“The timing of meetings and the make-up of committees, including any external representation, is up to the committees and the councillors on them.”

Mr Owen confirmed Mr Christensen had resigned from his position as Deputy Chair of the Regional Infrastructure Advisory Committee last week.

He said Mr Christensen was seeking advice as to what committee he may participate in.

Councillors Heath Paton, Ash-Lee Johnson, Namarca Corowa and Nathenea MacRae have been contacted for comment, and Mr Christensen has been contacted for response.