Trevor Dance: Hume City Councillor faces wait over serious misconduct appeal

A Hume councillor challenging a serious misconduct finding burst into tears under cross-examination at a VCAT hearing.

A northern suburbs councillor burst into tears during a cross-examination at VCAT hearing into his serious misconduct appeal

Hume councillor Trevor Cr Dance was under questioning from the council’s defence when he became visibly distressed for the second time in the afternoon session when his claims were put under cross-examination.

In a passionate statement against the line of questioning from Andrew Imrie, Cr Dance said he endeavoured to fight for men’s mental health after his experience with the issue before he was overcome with emotion and was unable to continue.

Cr Dance did not appear at two in-person hearings on June 17 and June 24 2021 regarding a complaint he had lodged against Cr Jack Medcraft.

A Councillor Conduct Panel found in April that Cr Dance had exhibited “serious misconduct” in failing to attend those hearings and by extension, failing to comply with the council’s internal arbitration process.

Cr Dance’s defence relied upon nine medical certificates at the tribunal to prove that he was unable to attend the two hearings due to the state of his mental health.

Earlier this year, the panel determined “he failed to comply with the directions because he chose not to comply” rather than due to his mental health condition, a claim which Cr Dance called “alarming and concerning” in the hearing.

In front of Justice Michelle Quigley, Shannon Jenkins submitted that Cr Dance’s reasons for not attending were “sensible and reasonable” but Mr Imrie, representing the council, questioned whether concerns for the councillor’s safety were substantiated.

Cr Dance tried to access the two meetings via Zoom due to his concerns about his safety and wellbeing on council premises due to “bullying and intimidation by unnamed councillors” but the panel had previously found this did not satisfy their privacy concerns and felt the bullying allegations were “unsubstantiated claims”.

The VCAT hearing will continue on Wednesday with a third session scheduled for Friday if needed.