A Hobart City Councillor has been found to have breached the council’s code of conduct by failing to exclude himself from a closed meeting discussion involving a childcare centre that his children attend.
The complaint against Councillor Ryan Posselt was filed by his colleague Louise Elliot and stemmed from a meeting held on December 11, 2023.
During the closed session, Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds asked if there were any conflict of interest declarations.
Councillor Posselt responded, saying: “I wish to declare that both of my children attend the childcare centre I don’t believe this precludes me offering (sic) debate, but I’d like it marked that I have declared that transparently.”
The Code of Conduct Panel’s investigation found that Posselt breached the code by participating in the debate and failing to excuse himself.
“His disclosure of his two children attending the childcare centre clearly had the potential for him to be at least ‘seen to be unduly influenced by personal or private interest’,” the determination read.
“While Cr Posselt may have acted in good faith, the panel finds that he failed to exercise the required reasonable judgment because had he done so, he would have determined that a reasonable person would have considered that his actual conflict of interest required him to remove himself from the debate and remain out of the room.”
The investigation confirmed that a conflict of interest existed and highlighted that Posselt was the only councillor to vote against the motion discussed in the meeting, the details of which remain confidential.
The panel dismissed other parts of the complaint, acknowledging that Posselt acted, “although mistakenly”, openly and honestly and with reasonable judgment in most other aspects of the code.
Posselt said that while he disagreed with the decision to leave the room, he respected the outcome and would not appeal.
He received a caution for the breach.
In a subsequent meeting on Monday night, councillors were told to resolve disputes through discussion or mediation before filing formal complaints.
A motion was also passed directing Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds to write to the Director and Minister of Local Government, requesting changes to the Local Government Act that would make conciliation a mandatory step before referring a complaint to the Code of Conduct Panel.
