Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate found not guilty of innapropriate conduct in unanimous council vote
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has been found not guilty of misconduct in a unanimous vote by council.
Council
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COUNCILLORS in a unanimous vote have found Mayor Tom Tate was not guilty of inappropriate conduct.
The Councillor Conduct Tribunal had found two of four public comments by Cr Tate made to the media had amounted to misconduct.
While it made those findings, the CCT did not recommend any action be taken against the mayor.
Councillors were to decide his fate after reading and debating the tribunal’s report.
Cr Cameron Caldwell at a full council meeting on Tuesday, supported by Cr Hermann Vorster, moved that there was insufficient evidence to make a finding of inappropriate conduct arguing it was “a the lower end of any suggestion of wrongdoing”.
“I think it’s better to take a more cautious approach,” he said.
The council vote was unanimous in supporting Cr Caldwell’s motion.
Cr Peter Young did not vote after leaving the chamber having declared a conflict of interest,
Cr Brooke Patterson during debate had asked for Councillor Glenn Tozer to make a declarable conflict of interest “because it has been made clear Cr Tozer is the complainant”.
Cr Tozer in his response would not confirm or deny he had made the complaint, but added that “my relationship with the mayor has never been better” and “I hold him in high regard”.
Deputy Mayor Donna Gates, who was chairing the meeting, raised “a suspicion on Cr Tozer being “the complainant”, spoke of his history of “a difficult relationship with the Mayor” and questioned whether he could bring an open and persuadable mind to the matter.
She asked councillors to vote on whether Cr Tozer had a declarable conflict of interest. Only Cr McDonald supported him staying in the chamber.
Councillors had earlier backed a CCT finding regarding former councillor Kristyn Boulton that there was insufficient evidence to make findings of inappropriate conduct.
The complaint related to a flyer produced on a council letterhead to promote a Christmas Carol event, and alleged it was used to obtain personal data which could be used for campaign purposes.
Cr McDonald was also the subject of an OIA complaint, accused in September 2019 of failing to properly moderate her Facebook page and allowing defamatory and offensive comments to remain on the site.
Cr Tate at the meeting admitted he was the complainant in the matter involving Cr McDonald. He decided not to participate in a vote, and because he was conflicted in the next OIA matter involving himself left the chamber.
Cr Gates recalled the comments were “incredibly derogatory, about alleged corrupt conduct and really ugly language”.
Cr McDonald said she had the comments removed once they were located.
Several councillors accepted she had done that. They all agreed with the recommendation of insufficient evidence.
Outside the council chamber before the debate among councillors, Cr Tate said the 72 complaints made against him had been dismissed by the OIA which was a strong batting record.
Asked if he was concerned about the money and time spent, he said: “You multiply that out, it’s not just about Gold Coast, you look at Brisbane – and I’d say all these frivolous complaints I put to you is that it’s millions of millions of dollars from expenditure in OIA.
“Expenditure in various councils in time, resources. Divide it by how much it is per shade sails, we would talk two or three hundred shade sails in children’s play areas in the parks. That’s what saddens me.”
EARLIER:
RATEPAYERS are forking out almost $24,000 for investigations into minor complaints such as a city councillor distributing flyers from her office for a Christmas carol community event.
The Bulletin this week revealed the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA) was asked to investigate former councillor Kristyn Boulton’s promotion of a Christmas event in November 2018.
Cr Boulton had sent out a letter on a council letterhead inviting residents to join the Carols in the Park Christmas event at the Norm Rix Park at Labrador.
The complainant, who has not been identified, alleged Cr Boulton engaged in inappropriate activity by breaching council’s information and information privacy policy and its procurement policy.
However, the Council Conduct Tribunal (CCT) found there was insufficient evidence to support the complaint.
A report to council reveals it cost $500 for the CCT investigation and $23,185 for legal fees paid by council for “former Councillor Boulton’s legal team”.
“These are the direct costs of the investigation,” the report said. “Officer time in coordinating and reporting on the investigation are not included.”
Several council sources suggested councillors and staff were concerned about the waste of money.
Spending so much time on investigating minor issues like Facebook posts and media commentary was a “waste of time and money”.
Latest OIA data shows at least 24 Coast matters are being considered by the investigation body.
Six have been finalised, eight were with legals, four are ongoing and another four are with the CCT.
Councillors will consider recommendations at a full council meeting on three matters by the CCT involving former councillor Boulton, Mayor Tom Tate and councillor Daphne McDonald.
EARLIER:
MAYOR Tom Tate, a fellow councillor and ex-councillor have been accused of inappropriate conduct – with only Cr Tate found to have breached behavioural standards.
The Councillor Conduct Tribunal found two public comments by Cr Tate did not amount to misconduct – but another two made to the media had involved inappropriate conduct and contravened the behaviour standards for the code of conduct of councillors in Queensland.
The CCT suggests the council order “no action be taken against Mayor Tate for the inappropriate conduct finding” – who admits his comments about a councillor securing funds to complete a business degree were too “aggressive”.
The recommendation by the CCT was there had been insufficient evidence to make findings of inappropriate conduct against veteran councillor Daphne McDonald and former councillor Kristyn Boulton.
The investigations into the trio’s actions followed complaints to the Office of the Independent Assessor.
The Bulletin can reveal the recommendations after investigations by the CCT will be debated by councillors at a full council meeting on Tuesday.
A vote will determine any further action.
The Bulletin understands all councillors met on Friday for a private workshop where they were updated on the code of conduct.
The CCT report and recommendations are expected to be debated in open session on Tuesday.
Councillors who are subject of a complaint cannot vote but they can be asked questions.
The CCT investigated four public statements made by the Mayor in October 2018 about the
the tribunal’s earlier decision about a councillor securing some funds for a business degree.
Cr Tate told the media at the time: “I must accept that the umpire’s decision that my public comments on the subject were too aggressive”, and that he was “guilty as charged” for protecting ratepayers money.
The CCT investigation found the earlier tribunal had made no finding about the mayor’s conduct being “too aggressive” or him being “found guilty” of stopping ratepayers funds
Cr Tate’s representatives, in defending the matter, argued he had accepted the tribunal’s decision, and his response about stopping ratepayers funding was “tongue in cheek”.
The complaint against former Cr Boulton related to a flyer in November 2018 produced on a council letterhead promoting an Christmas event in her division.
The complainant had argued the letter was used to obtain personal data which could be used for campaign purposes. The former councillor had no previous inappropriate conduct, and was found not to breach any policy or procedure.
Cr McDonald was accused in September 2019 of failing to properly moderate her Facebook page and allowing defamatory and offensive comments to remain on the site.
The CCT investigation found the councillor lacked the training and found it extremely difficult to determine comments on her public Facebook page which were defamatory or inappropriate “as opposed to simply negative”.
Both the Local Government Association of Queensland and council internal policies at that point were found to not give sufficient guidance to councillors on how to manage their Facebook pages.
The council updated its external communications policy in August 2020 which provides much more guidance.
Cr Tate on Sunday declined to comment. Cr McDonald and former councillor Boulton did not respond to requests to comment by deadline.
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