‘Fat dumb blonde’ comments lead to serial pest’s suspension from council

Serial pest local councillor Andrew Thaler has been suspended from his southern NSW council for three months and told to publicly apologise after bullying and abusive social media posts, which included calling a fellow councillor a “fat dumb blonde” and “nasty liar”.

The Office of Local Government said the sanction would take effect next week, after its investigation into commentary that included Thaler accusing a council employee of being a diversity and inclusion (DEI) hire who did not “know how to tell the truth”.

During his colourful seven months on Snowy Monaro Regional Council, Thaler has also been caught up in a brawl after a chaotic meeting and attracted 19 misconduct complaints over two months last year – including for calling the mayor a “dog arse c---”.

Snowy Monaro Councillor Andrew Thaler, pictured last year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

His suspension was criticised as insufficient by upper house National Party MP Nichole Overall – once described by Thaler on social media as a “gross, wallowing in the trough, pig” – who said it was not enough to address the problem.

“How do we know that the Snowy Monaro Council won’t just be right back where they started in three months time?” she said. She called on the NSW government to reform sanctions for poor behaviour by councillors.

The OLG investigation found that Thaler engaged in misconduct in four social media posts in March, which involved unethical, intimidatory, abusive, harassing and discriminatory behaviour.

It found Thaler’s behaviour in one, posted on March 5, was overbearing towards and pressured council staff, and could compromise the “psychological safety of individuals”.

The deputy secretary of the OLG, Brett Whitworth, found he should be banned from civic office for three months, and should publicly apologise for the misconduct.

In the March 5 video, Thaler called fellow councillor Tanya Higgins a “fat dumb blonde. Physically obvious. She’s a nasty, nasty liar, and so she’s been spreading rumours around the community that I’m responsible for the delay of all of [asbestos works].”

He also criticised a council employee “a DEI hire called [name redacted]. Doesn’t know how to tell the truth,” he said. “I’ve had various phone calls, conversations with [her]. She’s never done the job … does not know what she’s doing.”

Tanya Higgins (right, pictured with neighbour Bronnie Taylor) was targeted by Thaler in his social media posts.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

On April 29, he told his social media followers about the OLG investigation, which he said came about “because I called a fellow councillor who tells big fat lies a Big Fat Liar.”

When contacted by this masthead for comment, Thaler said: “You are not a journalist, you are a mouthpiece for the haters on the left.”

On social media, he said there had been no justice and claimed there had been a conspiracy against him. “Where is my right to a safe workplace?” he said. “Where is my right not to be subject to the most vile public attack, government attack, media attack?”

In a statement, Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig said the government was treating the matters with the utmost seriousness and “both the government and department are exercising our available powers to the fullest extent.”

Before Thaler was elected to council, he had been banned from council meetings as he posed a “risk to the health and safety” of council workers due to his “aggressive, disruptive, verbally abusive” behaviour. The ban was overturned when he was elected.

Last year, a group of women in the Snowy town of Nimmitabel told of their struggles to stop years of insults from Thaler on social media, including telling them to “suck a dick”, describing them as dumb, venal, a “piece of shit”, and branding them narcissistic, manipulative liars.

A councillor who has been suspended by either the OLG or the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) three or more times is automatically disqualified for five years. NCAT also has the power to disqualify a councillor for five years.

There is also a separate investigation under way at the request of Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig to determine whether Thaler has failed to abide by a Performance Improvement Order signed by all Snowy Monaro councillors last year, prompted by his behaviour.

Thaler was elected in September with 111 first-preference votes, despite a history of harassing members of the community, particularly women, on his social media accounts.

He ran for the federal seat of Eden Monaro as an independent in last weekend’s election, but received just 2.27 per cent of first-preference votes.

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