James Hansen misconduct finding over comments about NZ mosque shooting

A complaint about Fraser Coast councillor James Hansen over his comments following a mass shooting in New Zealand in 2019 has been upheld by the Queensland Councillor Conduct Tribunal.

A complaint about Fraser Coast councillor James Hansen’s online comments following a terrorist mass shooting in New Zealand three years ago, has been upheld by the Queensland Councillor Conduct Tribunal.

The councillor’s controversial comments urged his online followers to remember the lives lost “at the hands of Muslim terrorists”, following an extremist attack on a Christchurch mosque that killed 51 people in March 2019.

“We all hate and speak against terrorism, but we need to remember the 10s of thousands who have died at the hands of Muslim terrorists over recent times let‘s condemn terror at all levels (sic),” Cr Hansen wrote on his private Facebook account in the days following the attack.

“I’m so sick of the one-sided media, let’s remember Islam has killed hundreds of millions over the past few centries (sic).”

The nature of the comments and Cr Hansen’s defence of them in the media were found to breach the Local Government Act 2009 at a hearing two and a half years after they were made, with the outcome only recently released.

A complaint about Fraser Coast councillor James Hansen over his comments following a mass shooting in New Zealand in 2019 has been upheld by the Queensland Councillor Conduct Tribunal.

During the hearing, Cr Hansen admitted to making the comments online, but defended his conduct because they were on his personal Facebook page and deleted when he was made aware of how they were being interpreted.

The experienced councillor claimed his words had been cherry picked and media reports had left out Facebook comments he made “condemning all acts of terrorism no matter who or what group carries them out”.

The Tribunal found when Cr Hansen participated in a follow-up interview with the Fraser Coast Chronicle somewhat defending the comments, he did so as a councillor, which breached the “the trust placed in him as a councillor”.

The Tribunal found an allegation made against the councillor ‘s online comments had “been sustained”.

The comments went against the Local Government Act of “democratic representation, social inclusion and meaningful community engagement”, it found.

The councillor’s stance drew the attention of Habib Jamal, president of the Islamic Council of Queensland at the time, who said Cr Hansen misunderstood Islam.

“My message to the councillor would be firstly to study the religion of Islam,” Mr Jamal said.

“He will note that Islam does not condone any act of violence or the taking of any innocent life.”

Mr Jamal said violence could not be justified.

A complaint about Fraser Coast councillor James Hansen over his comments following a mass shooting in New Zealand in 2019 has been upheld by the Queensland Councillor Conduct Tribunal. He is pictured with Wide Bay MP Llew O'Brien and Woolworths' director of fresh food Paul Harker.

“To justify the loss of life because they did this so we are allowed to do that - we don‘t accept that logic,” he said.

After having regard to a previous disciplinary finding in 2018 made after he posted offensive comments on a personal Facebook page, Cr Hansen was reprimanded and ordered to attend training

The Tribunal accepted that, while Cnr Hansen disputed any wrongdoing, he co-operated during the hearing and investigation.

He was not given a financial penalty or ordered to make a public admission to the Fraser Coast Council. Cnr Hansen was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publishing.

Originally published as James Hansen misconduct finding over comments about NZ mosque shooting