Redland City councillor fined $2100 for misconduct

The council watchdog has fined a councillor with a “significant disciplinary history” $2100 on four matters of misconduct but the councillor says he has “no apology”.

Councillor Paul Gleeson has been fined $2100 for misconduct. Picture: File

A QUEENSLAND councillor has been fined $2100 for misconduct including “intimidatory” social media posts and threatening another councillor.

The Councillor Conduct Tribunal has sustained four allegations against Redland City councillor Paul Gleeson (Division 9) as misconduct.

Independent assessor Kathleen Florian. Picture: Peter Wallis

Cr Gleeson now has a total of 15 sustained allegations of misconduct and inappropriate conduct against him, 13 involving social media posts.

Independent Assessor Kathleen Florian said in a statement that Cr Gleeson had a “significant disciplinary history”.

“The Office of the Independent Assessor had submitted Cr Gleeson’s behaviour was indicative of an ongoing course of conduct that exhibited a disregard of the local government principles and the responsibilities of councillors,” she said.

Cr Gleeson told Redlands Community News he did not have an apology for the matters.

He said he was not going to speak against the Councillor Conduct Tribunal or the Office of the Independent Assessor.

“What I will say is there are absolutely two standards by which councillors and State MPs have to abide by,” he said.

“If I could tell you more, people would understand the stupid games that are being played.”

Redland City Mayor Karen Williams said she had “read the riot act” to Cr Gleeson and suggested he “seriously consider his future in local government”.

“I have told Cr Gleeson several times that he needs to pull up his socks and I repeat that advice,” she said.

“We cannot have the reputation of the city impacted by this sort of behaviour.

“Ultimately this will be a decision for him.

“I can’t fire him, the only people who can do that are the voters of Division 9 and the Local Government Minister.”

Cr Williams said she would use the $2100 fine, which will be paid to Redland City Council, to benefit the community.

“Perhaps it can be used to help discourage the sort of behaviour in the future,” she said.

THE ALLEGATIONS AND TRIBUNAL DECISIONS

The tribunal found Cr Gleeson engaged in misconduct on October 23, 2018, when he verbally threatened a councillor by shouting words “you’re gone” and “I’m coming after you” at them.

“The nature of the conduct was verbally intimidating or threatening, which is conduct that the community would not expect of its elected representative, and fails to fulfil the trust reposed in the councillor by the community,” the tribunal found.

Cr Gleeson said that was the result of a previous complaint that had been put in.

“I said ‘you’re gone’ — I was going to help campaign against him, it wasn’t anything physical, it’s just politics,” he said.

Councillor Paul Gleeson.

Three of the misconduct findings against Cr Gleeson involved social media posts.

The tribunal found Cr Gleeson made “intimidatory and unfitting” posts on his personal Facebook page, with a photograph containing personal information and names of certain individuals.

In another incident, he posted information on his Facebook page referring to the content of an individual’s freedom of information request to council.

The tribunal found this “put the Council at risk of a possible contravention of the law”.

A third incident involved posts on Cr Gleeson’s personal Facebook page, which made comments about two people, which were not elaborated on in the decision.

The tribunal found that the posts “did not show respect for members of the public, and the behaviour failed to maintain the dignity of the office of councillor”

“It was considered that due to the disciplinary history of the council involving social media misuse … that the conduct as alleged was reckless, and properly characterised as a breach of trust rather than inappropriate conduct”.

The Councillor Conduct Tribunal fined Cr Gleeson $700 each on two counts and $350 each on the remaining two counts.

He was given between two and six months to pay.