Renewed calls for Redland mayor to resign after yodelling concert at Oktoberfest festival

New calls for a southside mayor to resign were made in state parliament on Tuesday after she headlined an Oktoberfest event as a yodelling act and her photo was used to advertise the festivities, which included drinking beer. VIDEO

New calls for a southside mayor to resign were made in state parliament on Tuesday after she headlined an Oktoberfest event as a yodelling act and her photo was used to advertise the festivities, which included drinking beer.

Redland Mayor Karen Williams, who was caught drink-driving this year, headlined the Emu Park Oktoberfest, a beer and German festival, under her stage name Heidi the Yodelling Queen.

The mayor travelled 700km to perform for the Emu Park Lions charity, a day after another Redland councillor Peter Mitchell filled in her for at a Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Capalaba MP Don Brown called for her resignation and told state parliament the Emu Park Oktoberfest organisers used a photograph of Cr Williams on their Facebook page to advertise the event.

Mr Brown, who called for Cr Williams to resign after she was found guilty of a high-range drink driving charge in August, said the mayor failed to appear at a Chamber of Commerce meeting on Toondah Harbour on October 21 but was able to make a stage appearance a day later 700km away for Oktoberfest.

The Emu Park Oktoberfest Facebook Page which highlighted Mayor Karen Williams as a headline yodelling act.

“So 700 kilometres away, our mayor can be the face of the biggest drinking festival in Central Queensland,” he said.

“I say to the mayor: if you want to be Heidi the Yodelling Queen, Queensland is your oyster,” he told state parliament.

“Go right ahead, travel the whole state, tour as long as you want to — but resign and give the people of Redlands a chance to have a proper mayor.

Redland mayor Karen Williams leads the chicken dance onstage at the Emu Park Oktoberfest.

“It is an absolute disgrace that we have a mayor who has been done for drunk driving and ordered to complete community service, who is now the face of the biggest drinking festival in Central Queensland.

“There are also questions to be answered here with regard to her travel.”

Redland City Council councillor Peter Mitchell, who filled in for the mayor at the Chamber of Commerce meeting, said he could not speak on behalf of Cr Williams but believed she had been on other mayoral duties.

Redland councillor Peter Mitchell filled in for mayor Karen Williams at the October 21 chamber of commerce meeting.

“There is no obligation for a mayor to appear at a chamber of commerce meeting,” Cr Mitchell said.

“The mayor is very busy and, like all of us, has multiple demands on her time and the mayor, in this case, went to the deputy mayor, as is protocol, but the deputy mayor was unavailable and so it fell to me as the divisional councillor to go as the meeting was related to Toondah Harbour.

“It is absolutely normal business to delegate and it is my understanding that she was away on other official business.”

Redland Coast Chamber of Commerce president Cindy Corrie said the mayor’s office gave the chamber plenty of warning that Cr Williams would be unavailable on October 21.

Cr Williams said in a statement on Wednesday night: “I have been supporting this community event for more than 30 years (long before I was in politics) on my own time, and at no expense to the ratepayers, and frankly the fact that (Mr Brown) is going to such lengths to track how I spend my own personal time is concerning...

“I am a first-generation Australian. My parents were war refugees from Germany and Poland. I have been acknowledging and celebrating my German heritage since I was a young child...

“Each year I fly to Rockhampton on the Saturday morning and return on the following morning. I pay for my flights. There is absolutely no cost to ratepayers.

“I didn’t attend a local chamber of commerce meeting the day before the fundraiser because I was participating in a SEQ 2032 Olympic Legacy Workshop with other Mayors and representatives of the region.”