Cleared Redland mayor calls for ‘kangaroo court’ overhaul after rivals vote to reprimand her

A bayside mayor is demanding urgent changes to the local government complaints system after a shocking council vote reprimanded her despite an independent investigation clearing her.

Redland deputy mayor Julie Talty, left, chaired the meeting which voted to reprimand the mayor Jos Mitchell despite an independent review finding no case for the mayor to answer. Picture: Redland City Council online

A bayside mayor has called for an urgent overhaul of state government legislation governing the Office of the Independent Assessor, claiming that the current process of referring complaints back to councils may undermine natural justice.

Redland Mayor Jos Mitchell was speaking out for the first time since her own council voted to formally reprimand her, despite an independent investigation finding she had no case to answer over two anonymous complaints.

In a written statement, Mayor Mitchell said she acknowledged the majority vote as a decision of the council despite the professional and independent findings, which determined both complaints to be unsubstantiated.

The OIA referred two complaints back to the council as “suspected conduct breaches”.

The council then paid independent external investigators, including BDO Australia and Ashdale Workplace, with the conclusions from both published as being “unsubstantiated”.

Redland Mayor Jocelyn Mitchell had to leave the room while the council voted to reprimand her. Picture: Redland City Council online.

The complaints related to her public comments about changes to council speech and media protocols, and her claim that she had been excluded from a meeting.

Under current legislation, councils are required to determine the outcome of referred matters, even where an investigation finds the complaints unsubstantiated.

In a confidential three-and-a-half-hour meeting last Wednesday, six Redland City councillors voted against accepting the report’s findings.

Councillor Shane Rendalls voted to reprimand the mayor claiming she had had ample time to review the media guidelines thoroughly before making public statements.

“The guidelines pertain only to decisions made at the general meeting, not ongoing issues,” Cr Rendalls said.

“The mayor either misunderstood or misrepresented that.”

Cr Rendalls claimed the mayor “chose to go public without verifying the facts”.

The 6-3 decision resulted in a formal reprimand of the mayor — despite Ashdale’s conclusion — prompting a wave of public support for Mayor Mitchell and renewed scrutiny of the complaints process.

“While I acknowledge the majority decision as a decision of council, my personal view aligns with the professional and independent finding of ‘unsubstantiated’ for both complaints,” Mayor Mitchell said.

“I personally believe this illustrates the need for urgent state government reform to the OIA process of referring complaints back to councillors for final determination.

“A process that may not provide natural justice could be a kangaroo court.”

As part of their decision, councillors found that the first allegation — that Mayor Mitchell’s comments were false, misleading, disrespectful, and damaging to the council’s reputation — was substantiated.

An independent investigation into two complaints made about Redland City Council mayor Jocelyn Mitchell found both claims were ‘unsubstantiated’.

However, the second allegation, that she failed to moderate third-party comments on her Facebook post, allegedly breaching the council’s online bullying resolution, was dismissed.

Mayor Mitchell argued that the current system allowed councillors to override independent findings, which could open the door to “politically driven” outcomes and wasting resources.

“Allowing councillors to vote and override independent findings does not afford natural justice in my view,” she said.

“I believe it’s a flawed process that diverts time and money away from delivering for the community.”

She revealed the total cost of the two investigations exceeded $27,000, not including internal staff resources.

Mayor Mitchell confirmed she had personally paid her own legal expenses.

“Each complaint takes over a week of my time to address — that’s time I’d rather spend advocating for better infrastructure, community services and support for local initiatives,” she said.

A spokesman for the Office of Independent Assessor said the OIA only referred about 4 per cent of suspected conduct breach complaints back to councils to deal with.

“In most cases, the councillors involved had already received written warnings about their conduct or had statutory recommendations issued to them by the OIA,” the spokesman said.

“Once a matter is referred to the local government, it must complete an investigation and undertake a natural justice process.

“An investigation report is prepared to assist councillors in making a decision about the matter.”

The OIA spokesman said under the Local Government Act, councils were empowered to independently determine whether a councillor has breached the Code of Conduct.

The spokesman said if a council’s decision differed from the investigation report’s recommendations, it must prepare a statement outlining its reasons for doing so.

Since the reprimand, Mayor Mitchell said her office had received a surge of public support, including flowers, handwritten letters and emails from residents expressing frustration at the council’s decision and standing behind her.

“The response from the public has been incredibly humbling,” she said. “It strengthens my resolve to continue working for Redlands and to push for greater transparency and reform.”

The reprimand carries no legal or financial penalty but will be recorded in the council’s official register.

“While I am disappointed in the outcome, I remain focused on serving our community,” Mayor Mitchell said.

“This experience has only reinforced my commitment to meaningful reform.”

Originally published as Cleared Redland mayor calls for ‘kangaroo court’ overhaul after rivals vote to reprimand her