‘Kangaroo courts’: Review of council complaints system slammed as bottleneck of cases bank up

Claims that local councils could become ‘kangaroo courts’ by allowing councillors to rule on inappropriate conduct complaints will be addressed in state parliament next week.

Redland City Council councillor Wendy Boglary said the council complaints system was not working and could lead to unfair outcomes in divided councils. PHOTO: The Courier-Mail

Vexatious and frivolous claims about local councillors will continue to dog councils across the state, despite an overhaul of the local government watchdog complaint system.

A year-long review into the local government watchdog, the Office of Independent Assessor, will come to a head in a state parliament debate next week.

But local government critics have slammed the proposed overhaul as a toothless tiger after it was revealed councillors facing inappropriate conduct charges would continue to be dealt with by their in-house peers and adversaries.

The dire situation was highlighted last month when long-term Scenic Rim councillor Derek Swanborough resigned, blaming his departure on years of enduring complaints lodged with the local government watchdog and a longstanding spat with his mayor.

Plans to restructure the councillor complaints process were launched in 2021 after a request from Deputy Premier Steven Miles.

Forty recommendations to tighten and speed up the complaints process were made in October after a massive bottleneck of complaints about councillors jammed up the Councillor Conduct Tribunal, which assesses and adjudicates.

One of the recommendations to unclog the tribunal backlog was to stop it investigating lower-level complaints about inappropriate councillor conduct and instead refer those complaints to the local council to sort out.

Those complaints will be handled by the local councils themselves.

However, the heavier charge of councillor misconduct complaints will remain under the powers of the Council Conduct Tribunal, which is believed to have a two-year backlog of cases to solve.

Its caseload included that of an Ipswich councillor who was found guilty of misconduct after making three requests to council officers to have a container of rotten food collected from a constituent.

In the past four years, the tribunal has assessed and decided 71 cases.

The parliamentary inquiry also found complaints about local councillors rose more than 50 per cent this financial year to more than 4500.

Biggest changes recommended were to the inappropriate conduct scheme, where one unresolved matter was 3.5 years old.

Findings from the parliamentary inquiry showed the Councillor Conduct Tribunal had dealt with more than 4500 complaints about local councillors since 2019.

The report said the majority, or 53 per cent, of complaints were made from within council ranks and only 37 per cent from the public.

Redland City councillor Wendy Boglary wants the council complaints system overhauled.

Redland City councillor Wendy Boglary said forcing councillors to be “judge and jury” of peers or adversaries was opening up a “kangaroo court” style of justice.

Ms Boglary said vexatious complaints about inappropriate councillor conduct were widespread across the state’s 77 local governments.

“The process will be used as a weapon against other councillors and I believe elected representatives have lost faith in the councillor conduct complaint process,” Ms Boglary said.

“Councillors need to have a safe working environment but cannot if frivolous and vexatious complaints are continually being made about them by political adversaries who can then decide their fate with a vote in council.

“In some cases, the process might give a councillor a safety net to continue with bad behaviour which will go unpunished.

“But for others, it creates an environment of bullying and intimidation.”

The report from the parliamentary committee said the Office of Independent Assessor had done an effective job dealing with thousands of what were categorised as vexatious and frivolous complaints.

“The Office of the Independent Assessor has stressed it is very conscious of the political dimensions of a complaint, and only assesses the substance of the matter,” the report said.

“The problem of the councillor complaint system being used for political purposes cannot be fixed by altering the councillor complaint system.

“It can only be fixed by addressing the political matter or conflict at the source of the matter.”

The OIA says 74 per cent of all complaints it received were dismissed; 5 per cent were referred to councils to deal with as potential inappropriate conduct while 4 per cent of suspected misconduct complaints were referred to the independent Councillor Conduct Tribunal.

A further 5 per cent of complaints, deemed as suspected corrupt conduct, were referred to the state’s Crime and Corruption Commission with the remainder in a stage of progression through the Office of Independent Assessor.

The Queensland Government response was tabled in January 2023, and supported, or supported in-principle, all the recommendations.

The parliamentary debate of the report began last sitting and resumes next week.

Originally published as ‘Kangaroo courts’: Review of council complaints system slammed as bottleneck of cases bank up