‘Loopholes’ in council complaints system can be weaponised: mayor

7 hours ago 3

A south-east Queensland mayor who has received nearly 50 conduct complaints in 18 months says the system can be politically weaponised and runs counter to natural justice.

Jocelyn Mitchell, Mayor of Redland City Council, east of Brisbane, has received 47 complaints through the state’s councillor conduct watchdog, the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA) – with several over Facebook posts where the mayor commented on changes to council policies.

The OIA can refer complaints to the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) or back to the council, who must bear the cost of an independent investigation.

After a complaint has been investigated, a report is tabled with the council, who vote on whether to support its findings. But complaints can be made anonymously, meaning councillors can theoretically vote on the outcome of their own complaints.

In an interview this week, the mayor said that loophole was open to exploitation.

“My great concern, and why I’m calling for change to the legislation, is because I have concerns about this process and its ability to be used as a political weapon,” she said.

“There is no method of checking an anonymous complaint [to see] who’s made it,” she said.

Six complaints against Mitchell have led to three investigations since she was elected last March, costing the council more than $45,000.

In May, council voted to find Mitchell had breached the council’s code of conduct, despite an $11,321 probe by private firm Ashdale finding the allegation was unsubstantiated.

The allegation was that Mitchell had made misleading remarks about the council’s recently altered media guidelines.

Mitchell had shared a Facebook post by Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding in January this year, where Harding claimed she was “gagged” from speaking on specific issues by a change in that council’s media policy.

A month earlier, Redland City Council had also changed its media guidelines, so the mayor would no longer be the spokesperson if they did not vote with the majority in support of a motion.

Mitchell was issued a reprimand by the council CEO as a result of the conduct breach vote.

The mayor said she acknowledges the vote was made by a majority of councillors, and therefore a council decision.

The council voted against issuing a conduct breach for a second allegation that relating to Mitchell for failing to moderate comments on the same Facebook post.

The mayor said the power to issue conduct breaches should be taken away from councillors.

“I think this system of reporting and complaint management needs to be altered to ensure we’ve got a process that responds and affords all parties natural justice,” she said.

The process that ended with a reprimand followed an official investigation into other Facebook posts Mitchell made about not being invited by other councillors on a trip to the Southern Moreton Bay Islands.

In that case, councillors voted 9-0 that there was no breach of conduct. It still cost the city $15,592 in fees to external consultants BDO.

In August, another investigation, which cost $18,240, was launched into an allegation that Mitchell breached the code by sharing a news article about the potential for councillors to be given portfolios, which they would become official spokespeople for.

“I believe this is another tactic to sideline me as the elected mayor of Redland City,” Mitchell said in the associated post.

A second allegation was made, again in relation to Mitchell not moderating the comments section. This time, the council voted 7-2 that there was no conduct breach.

Mitchell said she had paid for her own legal representation, and the number of complaints had affected her ability to focus.

“The pressure is quite tremendous, particularly with three [complaints] going on simultaneously, essentially,” she said.

The mayor said five of the six complaints that led to investigations were made anonymously.

Of the 1008 councillor conduct complaints received by the OIA in the 2024-24 financial year, 114 were about Redlands councillors, the most of any LGA in the state.

Roughly half of the statewide complaints were from within the local government sector, and 17 per cent of all complaints were anonymous.

The Queensland government has vowed to make the OIA “fit for purpose”, with Premier David Crisafulli including it in his charter letter to Local Government Minister Ann Leahy.

When asked when those reforms might be coming, Leahy said the government was committed to reform but did not provide a timeline.

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