Council CEO Ken Diehm speaks out on abuse of council staff

The Fraser Coast council has threatened legal action to stop the escalating level of physical, verbal and online abuse of its staff, which culminated in a violent assault earlier this month.

Council CEO Ken Diehm said there had been a spate of incidents of physical, verbal and online abuse of council staff in recent times, with the Esplanade assault the most extreme example.

The chief executive of the Fraser Coast council has called for the abuse of staff to stop in the wake of a violent assault of a parks employee in February.

CEO Ken Diehm said there had been a spate of incidents of physical, verbal and online abuse of council staff in recent times, with Hervey Bay assault of a parks employee the most extreme example.

“As a council, we are committed to providing positive customer experiences and delivering the services our growing community needs,” Mr Diehm said.

“We acknowledge the right of individuals to provide feedback about council services and decisions, both positive and negative, and to lodge an official complaint if they wish.

“However, our employees shouldn’t be getting abused simply because they work for council. Our staff are members of the community too and they deserve to be treated with respect.”

Council chief executive Ken Diehm said there had been a spate of incidents of physical, verbal and online abuse of council staff in recent times, with the assault of a council worker on the the Esplanade the most extreme example.

While the vast majority of council staff interactions with the public were positive, Mr Diehm said he had heard and seen more and more examples of staff being subjected to verbal and online abuse.

“It is just appalling that council staff are being yelled at, threatened, and physically and verbally abused when trying to do their jobs, while both frontline and senior officers are being tagged and targeted personally on social media with threats and abuse,” he said.

“Enough is enough. Everyone has the right to feel safe at work, and council will take all necessary action, including legal action, to protect our employees.”

A council spokeswoman said police had taken a statement the day the council employee was attacked.

In June 2021, a local resident was fined $300 in the Hervey Bay Magistrates Court for a “persistent attack” of verbal abuse and threatening behaviour towards a ranger, while in December 2020, another resident was fined $750 for threatening a ranger.

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Originally published as Council CEO Ken Diehm speaks out on abuse of council staff