Dubbo councillor Kevin Parker refuses to quit over racist email scandal

A western NSW councillor’s decision to contest the next local government elections has been slammed after he sent a racist email to a number of people.

Aboriginal leaders in Dubbo have slammed a councillor’s decision to contest the upcoming Local Government elections after he was found to have breached the council’s code of conduct for forwarding on an email that was branded racist.

The email Cr Kevin Parker forwarded to multiple recipients in January 2020 made reference to an “Aboriginal version of Snow White” and included racist slurs against Aboriginal people.

Dubbo councillor Kevin Parker says he never intended any malice. Picture: Ryan Young

A leaked copy of the email was sent to media outlets and in July 2020 Cr Parker was censured by Dubbo Regional Council for breaching its code of conduct with the case referred to the Office of Local Government for further disciplinary action.

The Dubbo News can reveal that despite the move by council, the NSW Office of Local Government took no further action because Cr Parker sent the email from his private Bank of Queensland work email address.

This week, Cr Parker, who has been on the council since 2012, said no malice was intended when he forwarded the email, despite more than 2700 people signing a petition calling for him to be sacked at the time.

When asked about the calls for him to stand down, Cr Parker said the incident was “history”.

“What’s happened in the past is in the past, you can’t change what happened yesterday,” he said.

“It’s history. There was certainly no malice meant with that actual incident and I have a lot of supporters and I don’t have any problems with that all.”

Tubba-Gah Wiradjuri Aboriginal Corporation chairman Nathan Frank has questioned the point of code of conduct processes. Picture: Facebook

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals the Aboriginal population in Dubbo is 14.6 per cent, compared to 2.8 per cent across Australia.

Tubbah-Gah Maing Wiradjuri Corporation chairman, Nathan Frank, said Cr Parker’s decision to contest the upcoming election left him feeling “absolutely disgusted”.

“The community has been fighting this behaviour for years,” Mr Frank said.

“It’s left a very bitter taste in the community now.

“What’s the point of having these processes like code of conduct if there’s no repercussions?”

Mr Frank said the Office of Local Government and Dubbo Regional Council’s response to the email scandal did not go far enough.

“It has completely flown off the radar of peoples minds, particularly with everything going on at the council at the moment. There’s obviously a cultural problem … something needs to change.

“Nobody cares … people just want to turn a blind eye to it.

“If we turn a blind eye to it, we’re not only condoning that behaviour we’re actually encouraging it and that’s disgraceful. It’s everybody’s responsibility to call out racism, the longer we just continue and turn a blind eye to it, nothing’s going to change.”

Dubbo Aboriginal elder Aunty Coral Peckham does not believe Cr Parker should be standing for election. Picture: Facebook

Dubbo Aboriginal elder Aunty Coral Peckham said the email Cr Parker sent had “cut deep” in the community.

“With a young Aboriginal person hearing something like this in today’s society, it just knocks them down a peg or two again,” she said.

“I don’t think he should be running for council or any other position when it comes to representing Aboriginal people. He’s there to serve the whole community, not just one side.

“We’re working towards a better future for the next year and it’s imperative we have the right people in there representing the community.”

An Office of Local Government spokeswoman confirmed the organisation had taken no action against Cr Parker.

“No further disciplinary action was required as the councillor’s conduct was essentially private in nature and not regulated by the model code of conduct,” she said.

“The councillor’s email was sent from an external device not provided by the council, using an external email account and did not contain any content relating to council or identifying him as a councillor.”

A Bank of Queensland spokeswoman said the organisation had a strict code of conduct and did not condone behaviour that fell bellow community and the organisational expectations.

“BOQ conducted a full investigation into the matter and subsequently, disciplinary and consequence action was taken against Mr Parker and the BOQ Dubbo branch,” the spokeswoman said.

“Additionally, education and training was also provided. Mr Parker now works in a part-time capacity at the branch.”

A council spokeswoman said it had no power to remove a councillor from office.

NSW Local Government elections take place on September 4.