Hobart’s Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds has received a caution for breaching the code of conduct during an interaction with now-Councillor Louise Elliot at a public meeting last year.
The meeting was held to discuss the University of Tasmania’s intention to move its campus from Sandy Bay to the CBD, during which Ms Elliot spoke against the move.
The Local Government Code of Conduct Panel has found that an interaction between the Lord Mayor and Ms Elliot following the speech did not meet acceptable standards.
“[Ms Reynolds] physically grabbed me by the arm and pulled me toward her so I was uncomfortably close as I tried to walk past her to return to my seat after speaking,” Elliot alleged in her statutory declaration complaint in May.
“[The Lord Mayor] verbally accosted me aggressively, stating over and over in a possessed manner “you’re wrong, you’re wrong, you’re wrong Louise”.
“[She] verbally declared, so that several people around her could hear, that what I was saying “is all lies”, essentially calling me a liar, which was heard by many people in her vicinity.”
Elliot continued by accusing the Lord Mayor of saying “bullshit” as she spoke.
In a statutory declaration from September, Ms Reynolds described the physical interaction as a ‘light touch on the forearm’ and denied calling Ms Elliot a liar, but did admit to saying the word ‘bullshit’.
Ms Reynolds issued a public apology to Ms Elliot in the days after the meeting, which she did not accept.
The code of conduct panel found that Mayor Reynolds had breached the code by not treating Ms Elliot fairly, causing offence and embarrassment and bringing her own office into disrepute.
However, the allegation of bullying or harassment was dismissed.
“Cr Reynolds is an experienced elected member and mayor and by her own admission, should not have approached Ms Elliot during the public meeting in the way the Panel has found she did,” the panel said.
“Although the Panel accepts Cr Reynolds made an apology to Ms Elliot in the days following this event, the Panel has determined that a caution is an appropriate sanction in these circumstances.”
