Redland mayor Karen Williams defends not standing down after drink-driving crash
Redland mayor Karen Williams has defended her decision not to stand down, labelling her drink driving crash a “stupid mistake” and announcing intentions to run again.
Redlands Coast
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Drink-driving Redland mayor Karen Williams says she should be forgiven for a “stupid mistake” while defending her decision not to step down from her position.
Cr Williams told 4BC on Sunday that she would run again next year while speaking for the first time after she crashed her luxury council car with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.177 per cent.
She denied she had an alcohol problem and said she did not step aside because it would have let the “regular agitators and haters” step in and undo all her work.
“It’s been a pretty tough time and pulling yourself together and getting on with the job takes some effort so … here I am to tell my story,” she said,
“With every person I have seen since 23 June, I say sorry.
“I am really sorry that I disappointed my community and … there is no one more disappointed in me, than me.”
Cr Williams blamed the stress of handing down the council budget that day – and delivering “more to the community for less” – for her decision to drive while under the influence of alcohol.
The three-term mayor pleaded guilty to a high-range drink-driving charge in August last year.
She said her decision to contest the 2024 council election was “not about my future, it’s about the future of the city”.
“We’ve set up a framework to provide opportunities for our young people into the future and at the moment, I am the only person who can actually make sure that we continue to lead those outcomes,” she said.
If she is successful at the next election, it will be Cr Williams’ fourth term.
The 55-year-old put her job as mayor on hold in 2021 to unsuccessfully contest preselection for the federal seat of Bowen after Andrew Laming stood down.
Cr Williams said on the day of her drink-driving offence, councillors had gathered after handing down the budget to enjoy some drinks, something which had become a “tradition”.
During the interview with 4BC, Cr Williams also apologised for her conduct on a Zoom meeting with families who had been victims of youth crime, held an hour before her crash.
The families included Judy Lindsay, whose daughter died at the hands of a drunk driver, parents of Matthew Field and Kate Leadbetter, who were killed in a hit-and-run accident and the parents of Angus Beaumont.
During the meeting, the families reported Cr Williams’ camera had been turned on and off, which she told radio was a technical issue with the camera falling off her computer.
Ms Lindsay said: “Let’s leave it up to the community to have a say in whether it wants a mayor who has to rely on an alcohol interlocking system on her car – it’s not a good look.”
Cr Williams’ announcement on Sunday ruled out a by-election and also a council vote to parachute in another councillor as mayor.
She said later: “Some people who sent me messages of support believed I had been treated more harshly because I’m a woman, but I’ll let them make that assertion.
“I believe my treatment was the result of a very stupid mistake I made, and I have to take responsibility for that.
“I have never made any excuse or shifted the blame to anyone else, it was my mistake and mine alone.”
State Member for Capalaba Don Brown said Redland voters would have the final say.
“I think it is great that Redlanders will get the chance to boot Karen Williams out for her disgraceful behaviour and her decade of high rates with very little to show,” he said.
“The community reacted to her drunk-driving crash because she clearly did the wrong thing and should have resigned.”
Cr Williams will be up against independent mayoral candidate Jos Mitchell, who this week spoke out against an Olympic whitewater rafting venue at Birkdale.
An international canoe federation visited the 62ha site, where the council plans to site a rapid water training centre.
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