Origin great Martin Bella slams persecution of mayor over vaccine comments

Former Origin great turned regional councillor Martin Bella has slammed the “weaponisation” of the state’s council watchdog, revealing he was accused of being unfit for office.

A Queensland local councillor and former Maroons great has slammed the “weaponisation” of the state’s council watchdog, revealing he was accused of being unfit for office after going public about injuries he had suffered during a violent dispute.

Mackay councillor Martin Bella is one of a slew of local elected representatives investigated by the Office of the Independent Assessor over trivial complaints, including Barcaldine Mayor Sean Dillon, who raised concerns about the Covid vaccine rollout during a council committee.

In other complaints, one councillor was fined $250 after posting information about a footpath on Facebook; another was fined $700 for announcing his city’s showgrounds would host a caravan rally; while a Gold Coast councillor was fined $250 for asking to be on a band’s guest list.

Cr Bella said more than a dozen complaints had been made to the Office of the Independent Assessor against him and all had been thrown out – including one made the same day The Sunday Mail published his harrowing account of a neighbourhood dispute that turned violent.

In the article, Cr Bella said he was concerned about his head injuries and that he could not sequence tasks, concentrate, and found it difficult to focus. Those comments were used to justify a complaint to the OIA that Cr Bella was no longer a fit and proper person to hold office.

“(The OIA) have been weaponised,” Cr Bella said.

“The biggest problem is the way it is structured, there is no comeback on anyone making spurious complaints. In the case of (Cr Dillon), I would be asking what sort of grub would make a complaint like that.”

Cr Bella said the burden of knowing the OIA was looking into a complaint was stressful and threw a spanner in the day-to-day lives of councillors.

“An environment has been created by the state government for worms to prosper, anonymous grubs,” he said.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate was investigated in 2019 over allegations he breached local government standards of behaviour by saying, “I don’t know what they’re dreaming or what they’re smoking,” when referring to public claims that there were black swans in a local lake.

Martin Bella in action for Queensland.

Barcaldine Regional Council Mayor Sean Dillon

The case was dismissed less than one month later.

Cr Tate told Cr Dillon not to lose any sleep over his ­ordeal while pointing to the multiple dismissed complaints he himself had dealt with.

“If he’s guilty of anything it’s for being honest and transparent,” he said.

“Based off the information I see, it is another example of overreach from the OIA.

“Freedom of speech is everyone’s democratic right and if the Mayor feels that the vaccination program is off track in his area, he has a duty to say so publicly to try to ­improve the outcome.”

Bundaberg Mayor Jack Dempsey, who also has had a complaint dismissed, said the situation surrounding Cr Dillon contradicted advice he received from the OIA regarding comments on social media.

“It doesn’t make sense for them to say that councillors can be beaten up on social media, but can’t express opinions themselves on general matters of important public interest,” he said.