Mayor barred from chamber and making phone calls, as council takes ‘extraordinary’ action

Council chambers are off-limits for a northern suburbs mayor who has been banned from meetings and forbidden from speaking with councillors except via email or to staff, due to concerns over safety.

Aidan McLindon, a former anti-lockdown Freedom Party candidate at the 2022 state election, was barred from attending meetings after repeated allegations of poor behaviour.

McLindon, who was elected mayor of the City of Whittlesea in November, has been told by the council’s chief executive, Craig Lloyd, that he is prohibited from attending in-person meetings and is allowed to communicate with councillors only via email, to protect their safety.

All contact with staff, except the CEO, was banned. Contact with the CEO’s office must be by official email, McLindon was told.

Mayor of Whittlesea Aidan McLindon has been barred from attending the chamber over his alleged behaviour.Credit: Simon Schluter

In two letters from Lloyd to the mayor marked confidential but leaked to The Age, the council’s most senior executive accuses McLindon of intimidating behaviour, including aggressive questioning of staff members over the establishment of a Rainbow Advisory Group for the LGBTQ community.

At November’s local government elections, the right-leaning McLindon fielded a team of candidates in every ward in Whittlesea. His platform included “child-safe libraries” that would remove children’s books dealing with LGBTQ issues.

After two months in the job, McLindon ignited local fury by announcing he was running in the state byelection in Werribee as an independent. He finished ninth out of 12 candidates, with 270 votes. McLindon’s unsuccessful Werribee campaign was supported by underworld figure Mick Gatto, who backed his plan to push for self-defence lessons in schools.

At a council meeting on February 18, Whittlesea’s 10 other councillors voted unanimously to call for McLindon’s resignation after a petition from the public urged him to step down. McLindon was not present for the vote due to a conflict of interest.

McLindon referred questions to his lawyer, Nicolas Karamouzis, who said the action taken against the mayor by the CEO was “extraordinary”.

“To have an employee restrict or fetter an elected representative, is the same thing as the bureaucrats who work in Canberra stepping up and telling the prime minister that he can’t come to parliament,” he said.

The claims against McLindon were unsubstantiated, Karamouzis said.

“They’re just allegations,” he said. “We know they can’t prove it because it’s not true.”

Aidan McLindon’s political career included time in Katter’s Australian Party in Queensland. He is pictured with federal MP Bob Katter.Credit:

In the first letter sent by Lloyd to McLindon, on February 11, the Whittlesea Council CEO cited several examples of alleged poor conduct, including that staff had submitted several psychological incident reports expressing fear and trauma at having to deal with the mayor.

Members of the council’s pride group had also raised concerns about McLindon’s social media posts, according to Lloyd, and his “derogatory comments” about the pride flag and transgender community.

Lloyd wrote that other councillors had reported feeling intimidated by McLindon and did not feel safe in the workplace. He also cited his own experiences of interactions with McLindon.

“You have directly attacked the organisation and me specifically, verbally alleging that the organisation is ‘politically corrupt’ and making a wide-ranging attack on us for a perceived lack of support for you,” he wrote.

“This has resulted in me feeling unsafe to meet with you alone. A WorkSafe report about this interaction has been made.”

Lloyd warned McLindon in the February 11 letter that, unless his behaviour improved, Lloyd might take action under the councillor code of conduct, including barring the mayor from meetings.

In a subsequent letter sent on February 24, Lloyd laid out eight more allegations against McLindon, including that he had continued to intimidate councillors during phone calls by threatening them with integrity agency investigations.

Lloyd also wrote that there was evidence of possible serious misconduct by McLindon relating to the leaking of confidential and personal information.

City of Whittlesea deputy mayor Daniela Zinni and mayor Aidan McLindon.Credit: City of Whittlesea

Lloyd’s personal address was among the details leaked, according to the letter.

As a result of the alleged behaviour, Lloyd told McLindon that he was taking several steps to protect staff, including barring him from in-person attendance at all council meetings and briefings.

McLindon was also given instructions not to contact councillors except from his official email address. All contact with staff, except the CEO, was banned. Contact with the CEO must be by official email, he was told.

The measures were put in place until March 24 and would be reviewed, Lloyd wrote. He told McLindon not to share the letter or its contents with anyone.

The City of Whittlesea declined to comment as the letters were confidential.

Local Government Minister Nick Staikos said monitors were appointed at Whittlesea to oversee the transition from administrators to elected councillors at the October election, and he was awaiting a report from them.

“I am aware of issues that have arisen in Whittlesea and take these matters very seriously,” he said. “The monitors will provide a report to me on these matters soon.”

Under legislation introduced in 2020, the local government minister can intervene to stand down a councillor if they believe the councillor “is creating a serious risk to the health and safety of councillors, council staff or other persons” or “is preventing the council from performing its functions”, according to the Local Government Inspectorate.

Councillor groups have previously been sacked at Geelong in 2016, Casey in 2020, Moira Shire in 2023 and Whittlesea in 2020.

Karamouzis claimed the council’s actions could lead to a similar outcome again at Whittlesea.

“These people are now risking the stability of the council, once again,” he said. “They don’t want to let the mayor do his job. The mayor has done nothing. He’s done nothing other than trying to do his job, and he is obliged to do his job.”

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