Canterbury-Bankstown Council meeting reveals $140,000 spent investigating code of conduct complaints against councillor Barbara Coorey

A Sydney councillor has accused political rivals of “weaponising” the code of conduct system against her, following revelations ratepayers forked out up to $140,000 to fund investigations.

Councillors Khal Asfour and Barbara Coorey.

A southwest Sydney councillor has accused political rivals of “weaponising” the code of conduct system against her, following revelations ratepayers forked out up to $140,000 to fund investigations.

Canterbury-Bankstown independent councillor Barbara Coorey revealed at a meeting on Tuesday six complaints had been lodged against her in the last two years, with one sparking a full investigation relating to “serious” allegations of misconduct.

While that complaint was later withdrawn, Cr Coorey has been censured five times during that period following independent investigations.

She was censured last year on three separate occasions, the last of which related to a series of social media posts describing the council as “kooky” and “dysfunctional”.

Then, earlier this year, she was censured twice after claiming council planning reforms were “a form of ethnic cleansing unseen in the history of the modern world”.

Canterbury ward councillor Barbara Coorey. Picture: Supplied

On Tuesday, Cr Coorey claimed council code of conduct policies were being “weaponised” against her.

“(Local Government Minister) Ron Hoenig made comments that go along the lines of ‘the code of conduct has been weaponised against minority councillors’,” she said.

“I happen to be one of those councillors.

“I stand here and wear it as a badge of honour (that) I have had six code of conduct complaints, (in relation to) five of which I was censured, and one investigation which was withdrawn.

“It is absolutely mind-boggling that I have suffered the most amount of censures in this state.

“Because I am independent, (the code) is being weaponised.”

Cr Coorey said the total cost of code of conduct complaints filed against her since her election in 2021 was likely closer to $300,000.

“I didn’t make that decision,” she said.

“I cannot be held accountable for (ratepayer money) being spent.

“I agree it’s a waste of money

“And let me tell (the council), you should all hang your heads in shame,” she said on Tuesday.

At the same meeting, Labor councillor Khal Asfour said the cost to ratepayers could have been saved if Cr Coorey “just apologised”.

Canterbury-Bankstown councillor Khal Asfour. Picture: Tim Hunter

“I think it’s pretty clear that a certain councillor has lost the ratepayers of this city up to $140,000 of their money undergoing investigations, trying to get apologies, better behaviour, to reprimand them, trying to get them to acknowledge that they are causing issues and problems, and causing an unsafe workplace for people connected to this council,” Cr Asfour said.

“This would all stop happening if Cr Coorey, just for once, acknowledged her poor behaviour and apologised.”

Cr Asfour said more money had been spent dealing with code of conduct complaints in the last two years than over the previous 17.

“I think it’s a shame that this has happened,” he said.

The Labor councillor was previously the subject of an Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation, which was withdrawn in 2023.

He denied any wrongdoing and the commission found there was insufficient evidence to suggest corruption.

Cr Coorey’s comments follow the Office of Local Government earlier this year announcing proposed reforms to overhaul the “broken” code of conduct system after it found 4289 complaints had been lodged over the last three years, in many cases for “trivial” reasons.

“The current councillor code of conduct system is fundamentally broken,” Mr Hoenig previously said.

“It is too open to weaponisation, with tit-for-tat complaints diverting critical council resources and ratepayer money from the things that matter most to communities.

“The sheer volume of vexatious complaints being made is preventing the Office of Local Government from focusing its attention on getting crooks out of the local government sector.”