Toowoomba councillor Gary Gardner challenges organisation over potential conflict of interest, reveals OIA complaints

An outspoken regional Queensland councillor has made an extraordinary claim while challenging a conflict of interest saga that has dragged on for months.

Maverick Toowoomba councillor Gary Gardner has challenged his colleagues and the organisation over a potential conflict of interest he believed didn’t exist, declaring he was putting “everyone on notice” over the issue.

The local developer and executive chairman of major firm FKG Group pushed for a motion at Tuesday’s ordinary meeting that he hoped would clear up a matter that had been hanging over the council for several months.

Mr Gardner revealed during the meeting two complaints against him had been lodged with the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA) over the matter.

Elected to the TRC last year on a pro-business platform of cutting red tape and ramping up development, Mr Gardner has an extensive conflicts of interest register due to his involvement in development, property and industry.

Councillor Gary Gardner during an ordinary meeting of council. Picture: Kevin Farmer

This became a point of tension at the September meeting when he declared a conflict of interest in relation to proposed reforms to council’s handling of footpath and road closure applications for construction projects.

At the time, FKG Group had an ongoing application with the TRC as part of the construction of a set of luxury units on Kitchener Street in East Toowoomba (for which Mr Gardner has been the spokesman).

Mr Gardner was permitted to stay and vote on the matter at the time based on the advice of then-CEO Brian Pidgeon, having argued the motion related to ordinary business and not a specific application.

An aerial of Fairleigh Residences, a set of luxury units on Kitchener Street overlooking Queens Park near the Toowoomba CBD by FKG Group.

But the issue arose again in the December meetings when the reforms to Local Law 1.15 returned to council for review, starting on December 3 when Mr Gardner was questioned at the committee meeting by deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff about reiterating his previous declaration from September.

On the advice of then-acting CEO Nick Hauser, Mr Gardner noted the previous declaration and confirmed his circumstances had not changed and that he was not involved in the day-to-day operations of FKG Group or its subsidiaries.

It escalated further at the December 10 ordinary meeting when Ms Vonhoff asked then-acting CEO Ann-Marie Johnston, based on the councillors’ conflicts of interest guide on-hand during the meeting, whether Mr Gardner had a prescribed conflict due to his companies having multiple applications under the policy.

She also asked Ms Johnston whether the council could vote on a prescribed conflict.

“We have to play this with a straight bat,” Ms Vonhoff said at the time.

Deputy mayor Rebecca Vonhoff during an ordinary meeting of council. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Ms Johnston agreed with this assessment and the minutes from the meeting noted Mr Gardner confirmed he would leave the meeting when the local law was discussed.

In his motion this week, Mr Gardner said independent legal advice he’d obtained argued he didn’t have a conflict under several sections of the Local Government Act.

He said the rules around conflicts of interest had been “misinterpreted”, leading to him being “unfairly limited in discussions and decisions”.

“I see it as a deliberate attempt to keep me out of these meetings, as we jump from conflict to prescribed,” Mr Gardner said during the meeting.

“To me, it’s pretty clear that an application does not constitute a declarable or prescribed conflict.

“This is an ordinary business matter and I ask anyone, if they don’t see it as an ordinary business matter, they need to let me know why it’s not.

“I’m putting everyone on notice, because we’ve been jumping around from one meeting being declarable to the next it being prescribed, to the next meeting I’ve already passed the motion where there hasn’t been a motion passed.”

Mr Gardner then extraordinarily revealed complaints had made against him to the OIA, which investigates issues of councillor conduct in Queensland.

“I’m actually saving council money by getting this advice, because I’ve got two OIAs already and they allocate $50,000 per (complaint in legal fees), so I think this is going to save you money,” he said.

On the advice of TRC’s legal counsel Bailey Garcha, Melissa Taylor moved a motion for the council to seek independent legal advice relating to Mr Gardner’s request that would be returned at the next ordinary meeting.

Mr Gardner also moved a second motion asking for minutes of the December meeting be changed by the chief executive officer to remove “inaccurate amendments”.

This was withdrawn after he was told by Mr Garcha that this could only be done by the councillors themselves.

The OIA has been contacted for comment.