A Hobart councillor who praised Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price during a debate about Welcome to Country has been cleared of breaching the council’s code of conduct.
The Local Government Code of Conduct Panel dismissed a complaint against Alderman Marti Zucco, finding his comments did not break the rules.
According to the panel’s determination report, the complaint was brought by Thomas Riley, who was in the room when Zucco spoke.
Riley lodged the complaint last November over comments Zucco made at a Hobart City Council meeting on July 28, 2025.
Zucco told the meeting Price had Aboriginal heritage and more knowledge of the Aboriginal community than anyone around the council table.
He said the council should take notice of her and described her as someone who, as she had stated in parliament, had a “black mother”.
The report says Zucco admitted using the words but denied they were racist or breached the code. He refused to apologise.
In a letter to Zucco, Riley said the comments were racist.
“I believe your comments during the council session were racist and wrong,” Riley wrote.
The complaint accused Zucco of failing to treat all people fairly and of causing offence or embarrassment to a reasonable person.
The panel rejected both claims. It found Riley had not shown that anyone was treated worse than others.
“The panel is not satisfied that Mr Riley or anyone else has been treated unfairly,” the panel said in its report.
The panel said it applied a “reasonable person” test from earlier cases and found a reasonable, tolerant person would not have been offended.
“A person may disagree with Ald Zucco’s viewpoint and may be angered by it, however, the panel is not persuaded that a reasonable person would have found his comments offensive or embarrassing,” the panel said.
“He was entitled to speak his opinion as was Mr Riley.”
The panel described Welcome to Country as a “hotly debated” issue that affected every ratepayer in Tasmania.
