Cocaine find sparks drug test and late-night confrontation in council scandal

Cocaine found in a men’s bathroom has plunged the troubled Moonee Valley council into further drama on the eve of local elections, with allegations the mayor demanded a late-night drug test from a fellow councillor.

Moonee Valley City Council – which includes Essendon, Ascot Vale, Moonee Ponds and Flemington – on Wednesday confirmed white powder was found in the men’s bathroom at the Moonee Ponds council chambers on Kellaway Avenue earlier this month, and tested positive for the presence of cocaine.

The City of Moonee Valley council chambers in Moonee Ponds.

A well-placed council source, who requested anonymity to speak frankly, said lines of cocaine were found in the bathroom on September 5 and reported internally.

As part of an internal probe, several people who had access to the building at that time were asked to give a “corroborated voluntary drug test”.

But the drama spilled into the public arena on Tuesday night when councillor Jacob Bettio took to social media alleging Mayor Pierce Tyson confronted him at his home on the night of the bathroom discovery “demanding” he perform a drug test – an incident he described as “a gross invasion of my personal privacy”.

Councillor Jacob Bettio.Credit: Moonee Valley Council

“I wish to advise the Community that on 5th September at 10pm, Cr Pierce Tyson, acting as the Mayor of the City of Moonee Valley Council, attended my residence and demanded me to ‘pee in a cup and provide my urine to him for the purposes of drug testing’ (my words),” the Facebook post read.

Bettio went on to allege Tyson told him he was “was required to provide a urine sample to him or retire (resign at the next meeting of Council)” and that Tyson “alluded that if I did not, things would get worse for me, and that he would go to the media”.

Tyson, who is a Labor Party member and was recently in the running for preselection for Bill Shorten’s safe federal seat of Maribyrnong, denied he demanded the councillor “pee in a cup” and said it was his mayoral responsibility to confront Bettio.

“There is a responsibility of the mayor under the Local Government Act 2020 for councillor behaviour, as well as an obligation to uphold trust and confidence in council,” he said.

“Under these obligations, I approached Cr Bettio to give him an opportunity to provide a clear negative drug test after cocaine was discovered at Moonee Valley Council.

Moonee Valley Mayor Pierce Tyson.Credit: Simon Schluter

“Council has a statutory obligation to ensure a safe workplace under the Occupational Health & Safety Act, and I have a role in fulfilling that responsibility.”

Bettio denied he used the men’s bathroom at all that day and demanded CCTV “from the CEO to prove my innocence”.

He said he “provided a negative drug test to the CEO within 48 hours”, telling The Age he did so because “he felt pressured to by the CEO”.

The Age is not suggesting the cocaine belonged to Bettio.

The council – which is now in caretaker mode – in a statement said it referred the matter to Victoria Police, but did not answer a series of questions, including what the CEO asked of councillors and staff, receipt of a drug-test result from Bettio, or whether CCTV existed of Bettio using the bathroom.

Victoria Police was unable to corroborate that a report was made.

Tyson said the reason for the urgency of the test that night was because cocaine tests are only valid for one to two days after exposure.

Bettio said the incident had “placed enormous stress and mental health impact upon me and my family”, and that the episode was “a political play” on the eve of council elections in which both he and Tyson are running.

He was one of four councillors who had their phones seized by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) last year as part of an investigation into their relationship with a local soccer club.

Investigators raided the homes of councillors Cam Nation, Narelle Sharpe and Bettio, while a fourth councillor, Samantha Byrne, handed over her phone. No public findings on that investigation have been made and it may not amount to charges.

Nation quit the council in March, and last week Byrne was suspended for two weeks as a result of the arbitration dispute brought by another councillor.

The council is one of several under state government scrutiny by municipal monitors for governance issues.

There are 43 candidates running for nine positions in the Moonee Valley on the October 26 election.

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