King Island councillor Sarina Laidler loses job over missed meetings due to caring for dying husband

A Tasmanian councillor has lost her job after failing to attend three consecutive council meetings because she was caring for her dying husband.

A councillor has sensationally lost her job after failing to attend three council meetings because she was caring for her dying husband.

Under Tasmania’s Local Government Act, a councillor loses their seat if they are absent without leave from three consecutive council meetings.

Sarina Laidler had been a councillor on King Island, an idyllic island in the Bass Strait, 80km off northwestern Tasmania, for six year before she lost her job.

Ms Laidler told news.com.au it was a job she relished.

“I felt I had a lot to offer the community and it helped maintained my skills, I had been a very active on council,” she said.

Her circumstances changed in June last year when her husband Kevin, who had battled a brain tumour for a number of years, took a serious turn for the worse.

Up until this point his condition had been fairly stable but soon he was rushed to hospital and had to undergo multiple surgeries.

Ms Laidler described caring for her husband in the final few months of his life as “traumatic”.

Sarina Laidler said caring for her husband Kevin had been ‘traumatic’.

King Island is an idyllic island in the Bass Strait.

Ms Laidler said she called and apologised for not attending council meetings but insisted it was simply not possible given her husband’s health.

When she was advised by council she had lost her position because she had failed to attend three consecutive meetings she said she was devastated.

“I was already devastating because my husband was going through end-of-life,” she said.

Mr Laidler died in December last year and Ms Laidler said the situation with council aggravated her deep emotional distress.

The loss of income was also acutely felt at a time she was facing an uncertain future.

“You’re fairly isolated as a carer, I wanted to maintain my skills and connections with the community,” she said.

She described the legislation around missing council meetings as “rigid” and said she had requested council adopt “internal procedures” to ensure special circumstances were taken into account.

Ms Laidler’s emotional distress over her husband’s death was aggravated by losing her position on council. Picture: Supplied

“I want to see changes in regulation and procedures at a council level,” she said.

“Particularly during end-of-life, you want to be there with them, you want to be there to comfort them,” she said. “I loved him dearly.”

King Island Council acting general manager Brian Barrett defended the actions of council telling news.com.au that Ms Laidler was not sacked or dismissed.

“The reality is that councillor Laidler, because of her difficult personal circumstances, was unable to attend a whole range of meetings over a period of 12 months or more and found she was not able to attend three council meetings without a leave of absence,” he said.

Mr Barrett described a leave of absence as a “simple form”.

“The result of that was that at the third meeting she sought to fail to attend without a leave of absence she simply ceased to be a councillor,” he said. “She simply forfeited her office.”

Mr Barrett said the Tasmania’s Local Government Act provides a “safeguard” to the community to ensure councillors do their job adequately.

The King Island Council is holding a by-election to fill the vacancy.

Ms Laidler has said she will be recontesting her old position.

Originally published as King Island councillor Sarina Laidler loses job over missed meetings due to caring for dying husband