He’s a rude fellow, and he swears. But was ‘fat dumb blonde’ too far?

Warning: this story contains strong language of an explicit sexual nature.

Andrew Thaler, who is fighting his suspension from Snowy Monaro Regional Council for intimidatory and abusive behaviour that includes calling a fellow councillor a fat dumb blonde, is “a rude fellow, and he swears”.

But that was not reason enough for bureaucrats to ban an elected official, Thaler’s lawyer Mark Davis told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Thursday, in the first step in the colourful councillor’s fight to overturn the Office of Local Government’s decision.

Thaler’s three-month suspension was the result of an OLG investigation into commentary that also included Thaler accusing a council employee of being a diversity and inclusion (DEI) hire who did not “know how to tell the truth”.

Andrew Thaler speaks to the media on his arrival for a Snowy Monaro Regional Council meeting in 2024 in Cooma.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The suspension is based on material posted on social media by Thaler in March, and separate to a performance improvement order issued in February, which listed a series of complaints made about Thaler last year, including that he called the mayor a “dog arse c---”.

The performance order also said that Thaler’s behaviour had caused council staff to feel anxious, intimidated and fearful for their safety and, in one case, left a staff member “physically sick on two occasions” as a result of their interactions with him.

Before Thaler’s election to council last September, many locals felt targeted by his attacks on social media posts and broadcasts.

One was Nationals upper house MP Nichole Overall, who he described to his followers as a “gross, wallowing in the trough, pig”, a woman who “does not care about any morals or ethics” and who he told to “suck a dick”.

Some local organisations in Cooma and Nimmitabel, such as the Country Women’s Association, banned him from their premises.

Nevertheless, he was elected to the local council last September with 111 first preference votes.

Thaler’s appeal against the ban will be heard in June. But he applied for the urgent stay to his suspension on Thursday so he could attend a 1pm council meeting to consider a new general manager, which was a “vote of very high importance”, Davis said.

Upper House Nationals MP Nichole Overall was told to “suck a dick” by Thaler.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The general manager’s predecessor informed Thaler, soon after he was elected, that a SafeWork ban on him entering council premises was still valid. He resigned after Thaler successfully argued that his election overturned the ban.

Davis argued a suspension would mean little to the OLG, but – with the numbers at six to five in favour of Thaler’s opponents in his absence – “his colleagues and the people [who] elected him face a very serious blow,” he told the tribunal.

“[His participation would show he] represents them, and Sydney is not going to boss them around, to put it bluntly.”

Davis also argued that Thaler had been the victim of a misinformation campaign, and the height of the allegations against him were that he is “a rude fellow, and he swears”, for which he had apologised. It was “an improper impost” to deny him the right to attend to his democratic duties.

“The basis of our ultimate claim is what happened to Mr Thaler [the ban] was not a properly delegated authority,” Davis said. “For a bureaucratic organisation to suspend someone who is an elected official in local government strikes at part of the democratic process.”

But the Office of Local Government argued that the accusations leading to the ban had not been mischaracterised, given that Thaler recorded them and posted them online himself. Its barrister, Matthew McAuliffe, argued the purpose of the ban was, in part, to protect councillors and council employees from his behaviour.

He agreed that decisions to suspend elected officials should not be taken lightly, but the powers existed and were appropriately exercised against Thaler due to his “serious and grave misconduct”.

The tribunal denied Thaler’s application for the stay and will hear his appeal on June 6.

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