Bundaberg council silent on whether it will replace Michael Gorey as Jack Dempsey’s chief of staff

Bundaberg council has refused to comment on whether or not it will replace the controversial position of the mayor’s chief of staff, which was held by Michael Gorey until his resignation in August 2022.

The future of Mayor Jack Dempsey’s now-vacant chief of staff job continues to be a mystery with no sign from the Bundaberg Regional Council as to if or when it plans to fill the position.

The position has been vacant for almost a month following the departure of Michel Gorey from the job on August 2, 2025.

Mr Gorey told the NewsMail in August he had his sights on a “new challenge”, before his departure.

Michael Gorey was Mayor Dempsey’s Chief of Staff for more than a year.

His job has not been advertised since, raising questions about the long-term future of the role which, according to the council’s annual report, costs ratepayers between $50,000-$150,000 each year.

The council did not respond by deadline to questions about whether it was replacing Mr Gorey, when the position would be advertised, and – if there was no replacement – why the position had been created in the first instance.

Mr Gorey spent four years at council and was the brains behind the Bundaberg Now website, as well as serving as Mr Dempsey’s election campaign manager during tilt at Federal Parliament in May.

Councillors approved the creation of Mr Gorey’s councillor Adviser role in February, 2021.

His time as the mayor’s chief of staff proved controversial, including questions over whether council staff, including Mr Gorey, had taken leave to work on Mr Dempsey’s campaign (a fact confirmed by Mr Gorey) and the true cost of running the council-owned Now news page.

It ended with a bitter war of words with the Bundaberg Today newspaper (which is not owned by the same company as this publication) on his exit.

Jack Dempsey ran as an independent in the federal election for the seat of Hinkler, with the help of Mr Gorey.

On his personal website, Mr Gorey accused the news outlet of having a “grudge” against him in how it covered his time at the council, and said it had been “aggressively anti-Council”.

“On 19 August, after it became known that I was moving on, Bundaberg Today published a front-page lead article under the headline ‘Gorey going’,” Mr Gorey said in the post.

“The newspaper never approached me for comment and the story refers only to controversies.

“There’s nothing about my achievements in adapting technology to improve council communications.

“The newspaper considers my career decision bigger news than the local MP Keith Pitt having his portfolio hijacked by the Prime Minister.

“There’s no logical explanation for this treatment except the owners of Bundaberg Today have a grudge against me because of Bundaberg Now and they’ve weaponised their newspaper to pursue it.”

Bundaberg Today rejected Mr Gorey’s claims in a separate article, saying they were “unfounded”.

It said in the article it had sent questions through to the council and only received a response from CEO Steve Johnston that he would not comment on staff matters.

Originally published as Bundaberg council silent on whether it will replace Michael Gorey as Jack Dempsey’s chief of staff