Cr Brooke Patterson’s alleged controversial comments about colleague spark political storm

Gold Coast City councillor Brooke Patterson is at the centre of a political storm over alleged comments at a forum about murder-accused colleague Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden.

Comments allegedly made by a Gold Coast City councillor about her murder accused colleague during a public forum will be kept under wraps.

According to political sources Cr Brooke Patterson left the state government forum “shocked” with alleged remarks about the court case involving suspended councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden.

Cr Brooke Patterson and Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden in the council chamber. Picture Glenn Hampson

Cr Patterson has strongly denied any wrong doing, telling the Bulletin on Wednesday that she was confident she had not breached parliamentary privilege or any other laws with her remarks.

However the first-term Southport councillor’s address last Monday to a parliament committee hearing in Gladstone on local government still hasn’t surfaced.

The transcript from the hearing, would usually available on the Queensland government website. A statement released overnight, by the parliamentary committee says it has decided not to publish the transcript, which includes Cr Patterson’s comments, while it is “awaiting further advice”.

The committee has not said the decision relates in anyway to Cr Patterson’s remarks.

A political source said: “We were all in shock (at what Cr Patterson said).”

Witnesses and anyone called to give evidence to a committee are generally protected from civil action, such as defamation under the protection of parliamentary privilege.

Bayldon-Lumsden is currently before the courts charged with the alleged murder of his stepfather Robert Lumsden. He was suspended from his role as city councillor for Division 7 last month. His lawyer says he will plead not guilty.

About 50 people were in the room for the hearing in Gladstone when Cr Patterson addressed her own recent finding of inappropriate conduct.

In December last year a complaint about suspected inappropriate conduct by Cr Patterson was received by the Office of the independent Assessor.

Ryan Baylden-Lumsden was suspended from his job as city councillor last month while he faces court.

The councillor was alleged to have contravened the councillor conduct code by entering a Southport complex without invitation and providing comments on the cause of land waterflow and unreliability of an engineering report. No action was taken against Cr Patterson.

According to a witness who attended the recent hearing, it was during her address that she allegedly began making remarks about Mr Bayldon-Lumsden’s case. The witness said at one stage she was asked to stop however allegedly continued to talk about the Bayldon-Lumsden case.

The Bulletin will not publish the alleged remarks.

The Bulletin made requests for a copy of the documents but a spokeswoman said it would be published “in due course”.

A parliamentary source said: “She went way too far (with her comments).”

Councillor Brooke Patterson strongly denies any wrongdoing. Picture: Jerad Williams

Councillor Patterson declined to comment about specifics of the matter. There is no suggestion by the Gold Coast Bulletin that Councillor Patterson has contravened or broken any law.

“Out of respect for the parliamentary committee, any correspondence between myself and committee members will remain confidential,” Cr Patterson said.

“Any comments I made regarding Mr Bayldon-Lumsden’s case have already been widely reported in the media and therefore, I am confident it has not breached any parliamentary privilege.”

Cr Patterson has been vocal on Cr Bayldon-Lumsden’s division and the lack of representation while he is suspended through both her Facebook page and during an interview on the 4CRB community radio station.

A resident on Cr Patterson’s Facebook page asked if a motion raised at this local Government of Queensland conference to possibly amend the law that a councillor should have “his or her position ended” “ when facing serious criminal charges.

Cr Patterson in response said: “No it wasn’t but the state is reviewing it. Strangely, if a councillor was charged with fraud it would be immediate dismissal but not so for murder. I appreciate the presumption of innocence but the appointed adviser approach the state has implemented does not work.”

Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden's photo and name have been removed from his office in Parkwood and an adviser has been appointed.

On 4CRB she said former councillor Margaret Grummitt had been appointed as an “adviser” but in a frustrating situation was “stuck in this administrative job”.

“The division residents are not represented in the way like every other division is,” she said.

“It’s a very, very tricky situation. There is nothing in the legislation for it. I supposed it’s never been considered what happens when a councillor is on a murder charge.

“But if he had been charged with fraud, it would have been an automatic dismissal and you have got a new councillor before he went to court.”

Cr Patterson added that if Cr Bayldon-Lumsden ran and won the election in March next year, he would face a further suspension.

“The court case could be 18 months away and Division 7 again wouldn’t be represented until that got dealt with and what the decision was.”

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