Surf Coast councillor faces month-long suspension over conduct

A SURF Coast Shire councillor will face a month’s suspension, after an independent arbitrator found he engaged in misconduct both online and during council proceedings.

Cr Paul Barker’s suspension will take effect on Wednesday, the day after the council’s September meeting, and follows a complaint lodged by mayor Mike Bodsworth.

Under the Local Government Act, misconduct complaints against councillors are determined through an independent arbitration process. A directions hearing was held at the shire’s council offices in May and the arbiter’s report was made public today (Friday, September 19).

The misconduct ruling centred on two incidents.

 

 

Pilk Purriyn

On January 30, following the annual Pilk Purriyn truth-telling event, Cr Barker made a Facebook post on a Surf Coast community page questioning the accuracy of the attendance numbers promoted by the shire. The post has since been deleted.

During the hearing, Cr Bodsworth argued the post was “deliberately dishonest”, “accusatory in tone”, “brought discredit up the council” and risked undermining the public’s trust and confidence in the integrity of local government.

Arbiter Diana Price agreed Cr Barker’s actions were a breach of the state’s councillor code of conduct, finding the post “contained serious accusations couched as questions”, with the issue of crowd estimates “unfairly used” to allege the council was “untruthful and dishonest”.

“It is plain that Cr Barker’s conduct brought discredit upon the council and risked the loss of public trust in that institution,” she said.

“His conduct prompted complaints from member of the public and other councillors alike, which demonstrates that his conduct reverberated within the community.”

While Cr Barker is “entitled to disagree” with the attendance estimates provided, Ms Price said, his actions were an “attempt to sow distrust in the council” and were “unwarranted and inappropriate”.

During the hearing, Cr Barker maintained that airing his opinion on Facebook is protected political communication, and the council needs to be robust enough to accept criticism.

 

 

Opposing petitions

The second incident came in February, after the council received two opposing petitions. One called on the council to reinstate support for community celebrations on Australia Day, while the other urged the council to maintain its existing approach to January 26.

The latter was submitted after the usual deadline, which promoted criticism from Cr Barker — criticism he shared with local media later that evening.

Ms Price described Cr Barker’s comments during the council meeting as a “wholly disproportionate reaction” that “failed to take reasonable care to avoid the diminishment of public trust and confidence”. His email to the media afterwards, she labelled “irresponsible”.

Noting the petition articulated a “political position contrary to that held by Cr Barker”, Ms Price said concerns should have first been raised internally, rather than shared with media.

Cr Barker said his comments during the meeting reflected his honestly held beliefs, and suggested external scrutiny from the local media was required in order to achieve any progress on the issue.

 

 

Mayor eager to move forward

In a statement today, Cr Bodsworth said the community expects high standards of conduct from councillors, in line with Victoria’s Model Councillor Code of Conduct.

“I felt Cr Barker’s conduct was inappropriate and he disagreed. The matter was ultimately decided through an independent arbitration process.

“I’m looking forward to refocusing on good governance and great outcomes for local communities.”

Ms Price has not directed Cr Barker to apologise for his actions, noting “Cr Barker was not willing to apologise and said any direction to do so would be ‘forced’”. Nor will he required to undergo training in respect of the Councillor Code of Conduct.

“Cr Barker does not lack an understanding of the Code but instead chose to disregard it when making the ill-considered public comments,” Ms Price said.

Ms Price’s report will be tabled at the shire’s meeting on Tuesday, where councillors will also consider a report about the impacts of celebrating Australia Day on January 26.

The council will decide if the shire will continue the practice of not participating in Australia Day celebrations while the official date remains January 26. It has not participated in these celebrations since 2021.