Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields the focus of ‘disturbing allegations’

Tensions over a litany of disputed allegations levelled at former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields have intensified in regional NSW as a bitter election battle sparks serious community concern.

As allegations levelled at former Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields continue to mount, the now council candidate has vowed to “ignore the bullies” and denies claims made against him hold weight.

Former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields has addressed the “disturbing allegations” levelled against him for the first time.

After a majority of councillors called for him to resign and numerous allegations surfaced in media reports, Mr Shields resigned from leading the troubled council in May this year to focus on his mental health following an attempt to take his own life which saw him hospitalised for several weeks in March.

Since Mr Shields announced his plan to make a comeback by contesting the December 4 council elections, current Mayor and former deputy, Stephen Lawrence has taken to Facebook to air a series of allegations about community members who claim they were treated inappropriately by Mr Shields.

“It’s absolutely critical that all voters know of all the allegations against Ben Shields,” Mr Lawrence said.

Mr Shields said the claims made by Mr Lawrence were either “outright not true at all” or had been “twisted”.

“Very untruthful comments have been made about me which are clearly defamatory, and I have forwarded this to my lawyers to commence proceedings,” he said.

“I have been deliberately trying to ignore it because I know it is a strategy from him (Stephen Lawrence) to try and derail my campaign.”

Outgoing Dubbo mayor and barrister Stephen Lawrence. Picture: Toby Zerna

Mr Lawrence, who is not contesting the election, said the prospect of legal action would not stop him from continuing to air allegations about Mr Shields.

“When it comes to defamation, I’ve said a lot of things about Ben Shields in the last six months, I’m yet to receive a legal letter,” Mr Lawrence said.

“I’m quite confident in my legal position and I have a list, quite a long list … of the people that I would call to court in any defamation case, to prove the truth of the imputations I have made.”

The drama surrounding Dubbo Council was mentioned in NSW Parliament last week, when Greens MLC David Shoebridge questioned Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock about “disturbing allegations made about the conduct” of Mr Shields.

“You would be aware a series of very disturbing allegations were made about the conduct, including the conduct as a councillor and mayor, of the former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields,” Mr Shoebridge said to Mrs Hancock in budget estimates.

“Including, and they were not limited to, concerns about his conduct involving Taronga Park Zoo and their close involvement with Dubbo Regional Council.”

Greens MP David Shoebridge raised the dramas at Dubbo Council during a budget estimates hearing. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

Mrs Hancock said she was aware of allegations, but hit back at a suggestion her decision to impose a performance improvement order on the council had prevented councillors from speaking out about their concerns about Mr Shields.

“The situation was pretty well out of hand in Dubbo and it was not going to get any better,” she said.

“Councillors needed to realise that they needed to direct their frustration to the Office of Local Government. If there are serious issues that needed to be raised and investigated, and that seemed the case, then they should have been raised with the Office of Local Government and/or ICAC and/or the police.”

NSW Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock said the situation at Dubbo Council was had gotten “pretty well out of hand”. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

Mr Shields, labelled a “Liberal mayor” by Mr Shoebridge, said he had “spoken to Shelley probably three times in my life”.

“I think she was a supporter of me because I literally almost died, or did die three times, and we had people in Dubbo calling for my pay to be cut and my car to be taken off me, attacking me while I was literally almost dead,” Mr Shields said.

“David Shoebridge doesn’t know what he is talking about, he’s not in Dubbo, he hasn’t seen the documents and he really hasn’t got a clue what he is talking about.

“Since I left the job as mayor, not once have I been interviewed by the Office of Local Government, not once have I been interviewed by ICAC, not once have I been interviewed by the police or any other government agency about my term in Dubbo Regional Council as the mayor.”

Dubbo Mayor Stephen Lawrence with former mayor Ben Shields in happier times after the 2019 mayoral election saw the pair respectively elected to lead council. Picture: Ben Shields Team/Facebook

Among the allegations aired by Mr Lawrence was a claim Mr Shields has repeatedly denied, about comments allegedly made when Mr Shields was lobbying for a position on the Taronga Zoo board, which came with an annual pay cheque of $15,000.

During a meeting with Taronga Western Plains Zoo boss Steve Hinks, Mr Lawrence alleges that Mr Shields raised the idea of the council potentially halting work on construction of a water pipeline to the zoo if the board position issue was not resolved to his liking.

Mr Shields said the allegation was “absolutely not true” and “there were other people in the room to verify otherwise”.

Taronga Western Plains Zoo director Steve Hinks said the organisation had complied with a Dubbo Regional Council ordered independent investigation into the handling of complaints. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Mr Hinks declined to address the claims.

“Taronga has complied fully with Dubbo Regional Council’s independent investigation … and the subsequent investigation by the Office of Local Government,” Mr Hinks said.

“It is our understanding that the process is still ongoing. In light of that it would not be appropriate for us to comment on any interactions with Mr Shields.”

The allegation made by Cr Lawrence, a Labor councillor, has previously been backed up by Dubbo state Nationals MP Dugald Saunders, who told the ABC Mr Shields had planned to cease the water pipeline project if he was not appointed to the zoo board.

In an interview with Dubbo radio station 2DU, Mr Shields said Dubbo Council had been denied a position on the board it was entitled to, and he “pushed the issue” with various state government ministers because he believed the mayor was the best person to sit on the board.

Ben Shields pictured at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo when he was mayor.

Another allegation Mr Lawrence made was that Mr Shields left a woman feeling “absolutely distraught” after he complained to her employer following her decision to deny him access to a closed Facebook group.

In screenshots obtained by NewsLocal, Mr Shields messaged the woman, Karen Sloane, on Facebook repeatedly asking for her postal address.

“I will be forwarding this message to my legal department,” Mr Shields said in one of the messages.

Parts of a Facebook messenger conversation former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields had with a woman who wouldn't let him become a member of a Facebook group.

In an email sent from Mr Shield’s councillor email address, Mr Shields complained to the woman’s employer, a federal government department, about an “online campaign” he accused her of waging against him.

“Mrs Sloane has a current significant job within your government department … I believe it is highly inappropriate for Mrs Sloane to be continuing issues against her former employee … It is well known within the Wellington community that Mrs Sloane is an ex-employee of the former Wellington Shire Council,” Mr Shields wrote in an email he signed off on as the mayor of Dubbo.

Confirming he did send the complaint email to Mrs Sloane’s employer, Mr Shields claimed derogatory comments were being made about him in the group and that at least one councillor who did not live in Wellington was a member.

Mr Shields also confirmed he contacted Mrs Sloane through Facebook Messenger, but he said the allegations were “very different to what happened”.

“I was disappointed that I didn’t get into that Facebook group; to ban a mayor from a general Facebook group for no other reason than that he was from Dubbo and not Wellington is absurd,” he said.

“They were discussing council things, they were discussing me, and she wouldn’t let me put the record straight about council matters.”

Mr Shields says he “can’t remember” if he threatened Mrs Sloane with legal action.

An excerpt of an email complaint former Dubbo mayor Ben Shields sent about former federal government employee Karen Sloane.

“But, if it had been defamatory, yes I certainly would have threatened legal action,” he said.

Other allegations made against Mr Shields include that he threatened legal action and swore at Dubbo resident Steve Hodder after a letter was published in a newspaper that was critical of the former mayor.

“It’s utterly not true. I talk to Steve all the time, he is someone who is regularly commenting about politics but the idea that I swore or carried on is just ridiculous,” Mr Shields said.

“I said he got a few things wrong but I certainly did not say that I was going to threaten legal action, not at that stage.”

Voters will elect new representatives to run Dubbo Regional Council on December 4.

Also put to the former mayor, was that he threatened to slash the council’s advertising spend with Prime News if the broadcaster’s coverage of him did not improve.

Mr Shields denied the allegation, saying: “To my knowledge I didn’t even know the council advertised with Prime to begin with”.

Prime Media declined to comment on the allegation.

Former Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields admits he has a temper, but denies any allegations he has broken the law.

While Mr Shields admits he has a “temper”, he said “under no circumstances” had he broken the law.

After 22 years in politics, having joined the council as an 18-year-old, Mr Shields said he knew he had enemies.

“I play politics very, very hard and I am always campaigning and pushing for Dubbo,” he said.

“Every boss of an organisation, every school principal, every mayor in the country; the longer they’re in office, the more likely they’re going to make enemies over that time because you have to make tough decisions that everyone doesn’t like.”

After a tumultuous 12 months in public life, Mr Shields said he would not be pulling out of the election race, and the support from the community had overall been positive.

“I represent the ordinary people of Dubbo, not the elite or the big wigs of town,” he said.

“I represent the little guy and I want to continue to represent the little guy and continue to make sure that local government and council is run efficiently.

“If I don’t stand up for myself and stand up against bullies, what’s the point of being in public life?”

Mr Lawrence continued his campaign against Mr Shields on Monday, airing a litany of allegations in a Facebook live video which attracted more than 700 viewers.

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