Former councillor Nigel Waistell still waiting on OIA over email complaint

A former councillor is still waiting to hear whether any action will be taken against him over two years after a complaint was made.

Former Scenic Rim councillor Nigel Waistell.

A former southeast Queensland councillor, who is still waiting to hear whether any action will be taken against him for forwarding an email more than two years after a complaint, says the laws governing councillor conduct need urgent review.

Former Scenic Rim councillor Nigel Waistell said 46 “stupid complaints” had been made against him to the Office of the Independent Assessor before he quit local politics last year and the time and money wasted on the latest 28-month saga showed the whole system needed changing.

Potential action against Mr Waistell is still pending after a 2019 complaint that he should not have forwarded a council officer’s email answering a constituent’s questions to her, and 12 weeks after the matter was heard by the Councillor Conduct Tribunal.

That’s despite incredible legal action taken in the Supreme Court by the OIA against the tribunal.

The OIA directed the tribunal to investigate potential misconduct, but tried to revoke that as an inefficient use of resources after it realised Mr Waistell wasn’t seeking re-election.

The tribunal refused and won the case.

No findings have ever been made against Mr Waistell.

Mr Waistell said it was “ironic” he’d been investigated by a body that didn’t want to.

“The whole thing is just a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said.

“Both those organisations need to be reviewed in my opinion.”