Sacked council CEO ‘could not afford’ to keep paying legal team for appeal

A woman sacked from her CEO role at a south-east Queensland council has made a last-ditch court appeal to be reinstated and receive compensation from the councillors who ousted her.

A crucial part of her argument was that she “could not afford” to keep paying her legal team while she waited months for a decision in her case, leading to problems when she tried to appeal.

Sharon Kelsey was appointed as chief executive of Logan Council in June 2017 after a period of instability in the role.Credit: Alexandra Weaver

Sharon Kelsey was appointed as Logan City Council chief executive on June 2, 2017.

On October 12, 2017, Kelsey made a public interest disclosure to the Crime and Corruption Commission alleging potential misconduct by then-mayor Luke Smith.

On February 5, 2018, the CCC wrote to each of the Logan councillors warning them of the
repercussions of taking action against her because of her public interest disclosure, and warning the CCC would investigate any future action taken against Kelsey’s employment.

Two days later, Kelsey was sacked after a council vote.

She took her case to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission seeking damages, to be reinstated as CEO, and orders preventing another vote on her job until her contract was done.

The QIRC ruled against Kelsey in April 2021 after a 23-day trial.

Kelsey tried to appeal that decision in the Industrial Court, but her initial application was rejected in May 2022.

Kelsey took her case to the Court of Appeal within the Supreme Court and had a hearing on Wednesday.

She sought a reversal of the Industrial Court’s ruling to quash her appeal before it could get started.

Barrister Megan Brooks explained that after the 23-day QIRC trial and during the 10-month wait for the decision, Kelsey could not afford to retain her legal team.

When the QIRC ruled against her, she only had a matter of days to file an appeal, during which time she could not re-engage her legal team.

Kelsey filed her appeal in the Industrial Court in time, but she did not include any grounds for appeal because she did not have lawyers at the time.

Instead, she used the appeal application to explain her personal and financial circumstances and that she would include appeal grounds at a later date.

In dismissing Kelsey’s appeal application, Industrial Court President Judge Peter Davis took issue with her methods.

“There is no evidence that any step was taken by Ms Kelsey between June 10, 2020 and April 1, 2021 to make any arrangements for legal representation in the event of an appeal being considered,” he said.

“Ms Kelsey, who is a lawyer, knew that the application to appeal must contain matters of substance, including an articulation of the grounds of appeal, [and] made no attempt to fulfil any of the substantive requirements of the rules as to the content of the application to appeal,” he said.

“Ms Kelsey’s explanation for filing a non-compliant application to appeal is completely unsatisfactory.”

On Wednesday, Brooks said the fact Kelsey could not afford legal representation at the time she filed her appeal should not have been a relevant consideration in Davis’ decision.

“Ms Kelsey was, in fact, awaiting further communication from a law firm to provide her with legal representation. She was not, with respect, ‘doing nothing’. In the circumstances, it was wholly unreasonable to expect her to spend funds that she doesn’t have to retain lawyers she doesn’t need, or might not need,” she said.

“We contend that the inferences he draws from her explanation were not relevant to the exercise of his discretion, and by taking those matters into account, the court fell into legal error.”

The Court of Appeal will rule on Kelsey’s appeal at a later date.

The seven Logan councillors who voted to sack Kelsey were charged with fraud by the CCC, but the charges were later dropped in Brisbane Magistrates Court.

Smith has ongoing criminal cases in Brisbane District Court and Beenleigh Magistrates Court.