State government to crack down on ‘trivial and vexatious’ complaints about councils

The 1866 code of conduct complaints made against councillors, general managers and council staff in the past five years include claims of cheese throwing and meowing like a cat. See how much money your council spent.

Ratepayers are forfeiting millions of dollars to pay for often trivial council squabbles, such as councillors throwing bags of cheese and meowing during meetings, it can be revealed.

Nearly $7m has been spent to settle complaints against councillors, general managers and council staff in the past five years as the Minns government ramps up plans to crack down on the “weaponised” system.

From 2019 to 2024, NSW councils spent $6.9m on 1866 code-of-conduct complaints, rounding out to more than $3600 a complaint. But only 226 gripes resulted in breaches.

It comes after The Saturday Telegraph obtained exclusive government data of how many complaints and how much money had been spent by each council.

Dubbo Council has spent $410,257 on 77 complaints, followed by Cumberland Council who shelled out $348,297 on 132. Hawkesbury and Georges River councils compete for third place with about $329,000 spent on 68 and 67 complaints respectively, while Oberon Council rounded out the top five with a bill of $323,225 for 40 incidents.

Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig is cracking down ‘trivial and vexatious complaints’. Picture: Nikki Short

Of the 132 complaints racked up by Cumberland Council, just one resulted in an actual breach, while not a single one of the 77 complaints made in Dubbo Council led to any finding of wrongdoing, according to data reported to the Office of Local Government.

Georges River councillors have frequently levelled complaints at each other during tumultuous periods in the past few years.

Former Hurstville City councillor Con Hindi.

Mr Hindi threw a bag of Bega cheese cubes during a meeting.

Former councillor Con Hindi, who has been found guilty of corrupt conduct by ICAC, received a complaint for throwing a bag of Bega cheese cubes during a council meeting in December 2019, amid a debate about catering bills. Mr Hindi was not censured for “cheese-gate” and other complaints, including making “cat-like noises and gestures” at councillor Sandy Grekas.

However, Ms Grekas was censured for calling Mr Hindi a “grub” and “being like a toddler” at the same meeting, according to council minutes.

Across the border in Sutherland Shire, councillor Leanne Farmer received five complaints during her three-year tenure. In her first year in 2022, Ms Farmer claimed she spent $46,200 of her own money defending herself.

Ms Farmer copped a breach for “liking” a comment on her Facebook page that said a fellow councillor was “in bed with developers”. She denies she “liked” it.

The amount of ratepayer money spent to deal with the complaints is tied up in the confidential code-of-conduct process, but Ms Farmer estimated it could be “easily more than $50,000”.

The complaints levelled against Ms Farmer do not relate to the actions of Mr Hindi and there is no suggestion of corrupt conduct by her or Ms Grekas.

NSW Local Government Minister Ron Hoeing vowed to overhaul the system, sending out new guidelines last week cracking down on “trivial and vexatious complaints”.

Originally published as State government to crack down on ‘trivial and vexatious’ complaints about councils