‘Bullying, harassment and discrimination’: Minister slams bad behaviour
Tasmanian council elections have been observed to be particularly fiery this year, and now a government minister has called out the bad behaviour. Read the latest.
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Local government minister Nic Street has slammed bad behaviour during campaigning for council elections, urging candidates to be accountable for their actions.
Mr Street said it was important to promote positive culture across the local government sector.
“It has been disappointing to see a number of personal attacks on candidates,” he said.
“Bullying, harassment and discrimination are unacceptable in any forum and have no place in our society.
“Individuals that hold public office at all levels of government should be held to high standards in terms of behaviour. They are leaders in the community and are relied upon to represent, and make important decisions on behalf of, the community.”
The comments come after the Hobart City Council elections were observed to be particularly fiery.
In September political analyst Kevin Bonham told the Mercury there had been noticeable conflict between Hobart City Council candidates, on a much larger scale than what he’d seen in the past.
Mr Street said it was also disappointing to see campaign property vandalised.
“Any form of vandalism is unacceptable and should be reported to Tasmania Police,” he said.
There were 510 candidates running across the 29 municipalities.
The polling period closes on October 25 for the compulsory election.
Electors should have received their postal ballots last week.
Poster Wars: Fury unleashed after mystery poster appears on business
A Clarence alderman was left fuming after a council candidate’s poster appeared on his business without his permission, but the candidate the poster promoted says she has no idea how the old poster got there.
Dean Ewington, who will not be recontesting his seat, found the poster of Greens mayoral candidate Beth Warren on the fence of his business, Oceana Fitness, and promptly put it in the bin.
He took to social media with pictures of the poster in a bin.
“Now I know [you] would not have the ability to put this up but one of your team of flogs has done so on your behalf,” Mr Ewington said on Facebook.
“What you are trying to achieve is anyone’s guess, but your sign is now where it belongs, in the bin.”
Mr Ewington later discovered Ms Warren had posted on social media
“Delighted to see the owners of Oceana supporting my campaign and adding a touch of Green to the sea of Blue and Red,” Ms Warren said on her councillor Facebook page.
“Generous of them to recognise that some of their clients are my supporters.”
Mr Ewington said Ms Warren should have called him to check.
“It’s pretty rude of her to post of her social media how wonderful it was for the owners of Oceana to put it up, she knew it was my business,” Mr Ewington told the Mercury.
“All this could have been solved by her doing the right thing in the beginning and checking before going on Facebook and celebrating.”
Mr Ewington said whoever put the sign up was playing a “silly stunt”.
“It’s someone trying to play games,” Mr Ewington said.
“That’s politics these days, people like doing silly things.
“There’s no ‘sorry Dean’, all she said was ‘can I have it back’.
“I didn’t respond but if she wants to get it she’s more than welcome to get it out of the bin.”
After midday, that’s exactly what Ms Warren did.
“It’s in the back of my car, it’s absolutely filthy,” Ms Warren said.
“I’ll clean it up a bit and see if anyone would like it.
“So I’ve acquired a 27th poster so that’s good for me.”
Ms Warren was equally perplexed by the appearance of the poster.
“I had no knowledge of it going up,” Ms Warren said.
“It’s one of my old posters from four years ago, this must be one someone had souvenired from four years ago.
“There were a number of posters that went missing at the end of the last election, I tried my best to get them all back.”
Ms Warren said she was upset by Mr Ewington’s reaction.
“There was lots of name calling,” Ms Warren said.
“I think that struck a chord with the community it’s not how they expect an elected member to behave.
‘Hostile, excitable’: Why these council elections are fiercest yet
It’s less than a month before voters learn the new makeup of their councils, and in the lead up, there’s been a high amount of conflict observed in one municipal area.
Tasmanian political analyst Kevin Bonham said there’s been noticeable conflict between Hobart City Council candidates.
“I think the scale of it in this election in terms of hostile interactions between candidates is much larger than I have seen in the past,” Mr Bonham said.
“The majority of it I’ve seen has been social media, there are also issues like code of conduct complaints that get talked about … a lot more of it happens on Facebook and is more visible.
“This social media activity, we’re seeing it across the spectrum, we’re seeing it from outside the council, candidates who have been on council a long time, all of these candidates have been seen having a go at each other.”
READ MORE: Your ultimate guide to the local government elections
Mr Bonham said some of the conflict and mudslinging came from personality clashes.
“It’s about the mix of personalities,” Mr Bonham said.
“There are a few [candidates] who are quite volatile and excitable.
He said hot button issues were also a point of contention.
“I think the UTAS move is a big one in terms of some of the behaviour that’s going on,” Mr Bonham said.
“At the last election, the cable car was the biggest issue … this time not so much.”
Mr Bonham questioned the effectiveness of the campaigning.
“I don’t know how much of this the average person sees,” Mr Bonham said.
“I don’t think they’ll care about who threatened to block who on Facebook.”
Independent MLC Rob Valentine is Hobart’s longest continuously serving mayor in the history of Hobart City, serving from 1999-2011.
Mr Valentine said he’d noticed the to-ing and fro-ing between candidates in this particular election.
“It’s nothing new but it certainly seems to be quite prevalent at this election,” Mr Valentine said.
Mr Valentine said during his time on council he had a tendency to avoid drama, a strategy he said served him well.
“There were moments where I was targeted, I always tried to play a straight bat and focus on the issues rather than exacerbate the unnecessary debate,” Mr Valentine said.
“I’m always thankful for the fact the community gave me the response they did every time I stood.”
Mr Valentine believed community members wanted to see candidates focusing on council issues instead of squabbling.
“I encourage anyone standing for election to focus on the issues at hand rather than stopping to name calling and person attacks,” he said.
“Every candidate needs to understand they may have a personal opinion and they may want to press some of those buttons, but at the end of the day it’s the community that puts you there.
“On the whole community members who are voting want to see a good focus on the issues rather than on personalities.”
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