By Jeremy Cook
A statewide complaint system set up to investigate councillor misconduct has been weaponised and used to restrict debate on key issues, according to ex-Southern Downs Mayor Vic Pennisi.
In sweeping reforms, the Queensland government launched the Office of the Independent Assessor almost six years ago to investigate complaints about elected mayors and councillors.
It sought to address concerns raised by peak local government bodies about the role which council CEOs had in assessing complaints and the absence of a decision review process.
Mr Pennisi, who lost his elected status after elections in March, said the OIA played an important role in the complaints process but was being misused.
From 2019, he said he was unable to contribute “in any significant way” to debates on Granite Belt water security, a hot-button issue for the region which remains unresolved.
“Fortunately and because they [the OIA] are at arm’s length from the community they can assess impartially what the grievance is and if there is substance to the complaint,” he said.
“Unfortunately, as the system is currently, people are weaponizing the system and good well-meaning candidates get targeted, unnecessarily.”
The nature of complaints filed against Mr Pennisi during his time in office varied.
Many surrounded his perceived conflicts of interest, in particular when discussing water security options for Stanthorpe and the highly divisive Emu Swamp Dam project.
Mr Pennisi’s long term support for Emu Swamp Dam has been no secret, once holding directorships on two organisations involved with the more than 20-year-long proposed project, namely Granite Belt Water Limited and Emu Swamp Dam Pty Ltd.
One council meeting produced up to 13 individual complaints when councillors discussed and agreed to sell 450ML of the council’s urban water allocation to Granite Belt Water Limited. Two of those complaints alleged Mr Pennisi had attempted to influence the vote by staying in the room for discussion.
In its findings, the OIA noted Mr Pennisi had disclosed his conflicts of interest before a “quorum of non-conflicted councillors” decided he could participate in discussion but not vote.
The OIA dismissed all 13 complaints.
Other complaints related to alleged instances of misconduct during consultation for the controversial Condamine Gorge river crossing project with one complaint claiming he failed to respond to an email.
Another complaint alleged he’d indicated residents were responsible for vandalising council machinery along Condamine River Road while being interviewed with Channel 7, despite telling the reporter, “I’m not casting aspersions as to who it might of or might not have been”.
The OIA dismissed the complaint, explaining it was “reasonably satisfied that the complaint [was] vexatious”.
“The complainant has been cautioned about making further similar complaints,” the OIA wrote.
The OIA found Mr Pennisi guilty on only one occasion, finding he had behaved in a verbally aggressive manner by swearing at another councillor in 2020. Mr Pennisi self-reported the complaint but was forced to apologise for the incident.
Mr Pennisi said costs to defend complaints were significant for not just him but ratepayers as well.
Southern Downs Regional Council policy stipulates for legal costs incurred through councillor misconduct proceedings to be covered by the council and recovered from the councillor where appropriate.
“The personal cost to public officials is significant not just financially but also the emotional toll that they endure during sometimes long extended processes,” he said.
“However, the cost to the rate payer or tax payer is significant every time there is a complaint lodged, whether it has merit or not.
“Every complaint is considered carefully and ratepayers or tax payers pay for those considerations to occur.”
Southern Downs council chief executive Dave Burges said he forwarded five complaints to the OIA during the last financial year, but could not say how much had been spent on councillor’s legal fees since 2018.
Though late last year, Mr Burges confirmed more than $21,000 worth of legal fees had been spent on fighting misconduct complaints made against Mr Pennisi in the 2022-23 financial year.
Scrutiny of the state’s complaints system is not a new phenomenon.
As part of a parliamentary inquiry setup to probe the OIA’s complaint process, some submitters noted how anonymous complaints were being weaponised, turning trivial incidents into months-long issues.
Legislation to rid the state’s councillor complaints system of “vexatious complainants” later passed Queensland parliament late-last year as part of a major overhaul to the OIA’s functions. Under those changes, the OIA can make a vexatious declaration and also prosecute a person in court over just a single complaint.
An OIA spokeswoman said the watchdog had “not yet declared anyone as vexatious, noting that this provision requires a minimum of three vexatious complaints to first be made to evoke the provision”. The watchdog had, however, classified 103 complaints as “vexatious” or “not in good faith” since 2019, the spokeswoman said.
During the last financial year, the spokeswoman said the OIA had issued two vexatious warnings to members of the public across the state and commenced one prosecution which was later withdrawn.
“The OIA is conscious of the need to protect councillors from vexatious complaints and we carefully consider each complaint to determine if it may be properly categorised as vexatious,” she said.
