Motions

Local Government, Harassment

The Hon. C. BONAROS (17:01): I move:

1. That this council calls on the Attorney-General, within three months of the passing of this motion, to instigate an independent inquiry by the equal opportunity commissioner into the prevalence of harassment, including sexual harassment, in the local government sector in South Australia and to report to the parliament on the following matters:

(a) the adequacy of existing laws, policies, structures, and complaint mechanisms relating to harassment, including sexual harassment;

(b) improvements that may be made to existing laws, policies, structures, and complaint mechanisms relating to harassment, including sexual harassment; and

(c) any other relevant matters.

2. That the equal opportunity commissioner is appropriately resourced to undertake such an inquiry.

I rise today to speak on this motion proposing referral of harassment in local government to the equal opportunity commissioner. It follows a proven and effective model, empowering the equal opportunity commissioner to investigate systemic issues within a professional workplace and provide insight and recommendations for meaningful and genuine change.

The words of this motion mirror the previously supported motion, one that I moved in 2020, into the legal profession. I have spoken at length in this place about that and the subsequent reports that have come about as a result of that and, importantly, the changes that have been brought about as a result of both of those inquiries. Change is clearly needed in local government. It was needed here in Parliament House, and we saw an inquiry in the same vein being undertaken by Equal Opportunity into this workplace.

This particular motion deals specifically with local government when it comes to all forms of harassment. Let me begin by acknowledging the existing mechanisms in place for managing conduct. The Local Government Act provides the minister with the power to publish behavioural standards, which all councils must adopt. These standards came into operation in November 2022, replacing the previous code of conduct as part of a broader local government reform package. Those reforms also introduced an independent statutory body, a three-person panel, to deal with difficult behavioural issues involving councils.

The panel considers referrals from councils or individuals within a council. To date it has published an interim report on a matter involving Salisbury council and a report following a referral from Yorke Peninsula Council. Other complaint pathways also exist through the Ombudsman, the Office for Public Integrity and the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, depending of course on the nature of the issue.

On the surface, it may seem that necessary frameworks are already in place, but I would say that these mechanisms are all reactive, not proactive. They respond after the fact, and often after the damage is done, and they certainly do nothing to address and fix culture. They are not designed to identify or prevent the systemic problems that continue to flourish in the shadows. If systemic change were not needed, I, frankly, would not have a queue of current and former councillors and mayors at my door describing their distress and the failures of the system to protect them from harassment in all its forms.

I take this opportunity to acknowledge those present today who have indicated their support for this motion and the desperate need for action in this space: Mayor Jan-Claire Wisdom; Mayor Anne Monceaux; President of the Local Government Association, Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross; Mayor Moira Jenkins; Mayor Jillian Whittaker; Councillor Jayne Hoffmann; and Councillor Davina Quirke.

They are five mayors and two elected members who have taken their time out to be here today for this motion, but they are only a handful compared with the number I have spoken with in recent months about this very issue. They are only a handful from across the state who have all spoken out in relation to this particular issue.

The PRESIDENT: You know that referring to people in the gallery is out of order, of course.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: Yes, of course I do, but I have not mentioned the gallery. I have just mentioned their presence in Parliament House. On a very serious note, though, in this instance all these women are only a handful from across the state, can I say, of mayors and elected members who have contacted me. Even in the absence of those who have contacted me, it feels almost impossible today to open up a newspaper without finding a story of a mayor or an elected member who wantingly or unwantingly has become embroiled in another legal dispute with another councillor, staff member or whatever the case may be, or a story of another resignation. We have had record numbers of resignations I think in the last few weeks.

Just today, we have had a mayor also announce her resignation. Overwhelmingly, it is women but it is not an issue that is isolated to women alone. I will get to that in a little while. I thank all those mayors and elected members who have indicated their support for this. As I said, the ones I have mentioned today are only a handful. There are many others.

I should acknowledge also that with many of the mayors and elected members I have spoken to, I have gone as far as I can. I have reached out to our mayor in the Adelaide City Council, I have been contacted by our mayor in the north-eastern suburbs. It is across the divide in South Australia. It is not isolated to one area. Some areas seem to have more problems than others, but it is certainly something that covers our regions, as is reflected by the presence of the people I have spoken of today, and metropolitan Adelaide. It is a big problem and it is not one that only covers mayors, it is not one that only covers elected members, it is not one that only covers or extends to staff. It is all encompassing, and it is worthy of further consideration in the context of why this is so rampant.

I acknowledge also that a lot of work has been done—and there are others I have not mentioned—to try to address this issue through the existing mechanisms, and nothing much has come of that. So again, we have people who are caught up in this who are trying to address it, but not much is coming of it.

The motion itself calls for an inquiry, but as I said not one confined solely to elected members because, as we know and as I have just articulated, harassment also exists between council workers and residents. I am going to give one example, because we often think of this in the context of issues between elected members, of a woman, a resident, who shared her story with me when she heard that I was proposing this motion. She did not file a complaint out of fear of retribution. A council staff member came to her house to discuss a minor gardening matter. In the course of that discussion, he said to her, 'If I took you home from a bar and woke up the next morning and saw the size of your house, I would say you could afford to pay for this gardening matter yourself.'

This particular man knew where she lived and he knew she was a single mum as they had just talked about the affordability of carrying out the said gardening work. He had told her that he knew someone who knew her from her children's school, and she said to me, 'I felt unsafe.' She said she did not call the council to make a complaint. She chose silence. She also said, 'How could a council staff member possibly think that was an acceptable thing to say?' This was when they were visiting somebody's home on official or unofficial—but, in this instance, official—business and discussing the issue of the gardening matter at her home. So the motion is for every person without a platform who carries the weight of a story that they are too afraid to tell.

I have been asked specifically why sexual harassment is referred to in this motion and the answer is really twofold. Firstly, we have a good, proven track record with the inquiries that have already taken place. It replicates word for word the previous motion proposing an inquiry into the legal profession and, whilst I acknowledge that the bulk of complaints in local government are centred on bullying and general harassment, that is not to say, as that example I just highlighted indicates, that sexual harassment does not exist within other areas, particularly when it comes to the sort of scenario I just outlined.

A common theme is that people are afraid to speak. That has been something that I have grappled with in terms of getting this motion together. They have spoken to me very openly and candidly off the record. They become very fearful when it comes to speaking on the record, so that is what we are attempting to achieve through this motion. As we have seen in other sectors, an inquiry led by the equal opportunity commissioner gives people the chance to speak safely and confidently. It gives them a voice and it gives us the information we need to change the system.

I will not use this chamber to litigate individual council cases, some of which are ongoing, but, as I said, it is hard to open a paper these days and not find an issue between councils. Some of them are more difficult to wrap your head around than others, but it is certainly a problem that we need to address.

It would be the role of the commissioner to consider these complaints, with a view to recommending positive change. That is the commissioner's job and that is what she has shown her office can do so effectively, particularly in the legal profession. However, I will share just a glimpse of the system-wide issues from the correspondence I have received, with the permission of those who have given me these and certainly not by identifying anybody. One has said:

The Hon. Bonaros' motion is the circuit breaker we desperately need. This is a systemic cultural problem that cannot be fixed by tweaking the Behavioural Standards.

It is a problem we need to investigate by allowing women to speak freely—not just about the abuse, but about the personal, physical and financial toll it is taking.

Another has said:

…Local government is where female leaders can thrive—where we can balance leadership with careers and family. But until the system changes, it is not a safe workplace for women.

Another has said:

Speaking personally, and not on behalf of any council…I think there is a growing epidemic of incivility in the Local Government sector, both inside the Council Chambers and in Council Administrations across our State and interstate.

Anyone challenging this incivility and seeking public accountability can find themselves vilified in public and victimised in private.

The effects of incivility in the Local Government workplace is that people get sick, go on stress leave, there is a loss of staff, and financial issues may occur within organisations.

I personally had cause to seek assistance from a psychologist last year who confided in me that I was the fourth female Mayor who had come to him with similar issues in as many months. This should be alarming to all in the sector given there are only 68 Councils in SA.

Another mayor has said to me:

Connie, in all my years of being mayor, and I have been a mayor for a very long time, never have I seen this issue as rampant as it is today.

He says that the culture that council works within is toxic, ugly and brutal, and he says the last two years in particular have been the worst he has seen in something like 25. That goes to the theme of this growing incivility that we have just heard about.

I will finish with one more quote about the group of female mayors in South Australia who have come together to share their collective experience and their shared ambition of improving civil behaviour in local government. There have been approaches to local government. As I said, one of the people who I have mentioned today is the president of the Local Government Association, but I think the Local Government Association now fully acknowledges that we have an issue here. I have spoken to the Local Government Association, and I have said, 'You have an issue here.'

I have also said there is nothing to fear, because that is not the role of the equal opportunity commissioner. The equal opportunity commissioner comes in with a job to do. She rips the bandaid off the problem and she exposes the faults and the systemic weaknesses that exist in the system. Then she makes recommendations for change, and she tells you, from an outsider's perspective, whose bread and butter it is to deal with these issues, what you need to do to improve. You cannot do that from within. Everybody has tried to do that from within, historically, and it simply does not work. That is why we have an equal opportunity commissioner in that role, and that is why we need her to undertake this inquiry, as she has others.

You have just heard a lot of powerful words from people who have provided them, and they reflect a broader pattern of a recurring theme of bullying and harassment, a rising toll on individuals and legal bills. In the Adelaide Hills Council just yesterday it was reported that legal fees have reached $400,000. I am going to bring into that in a moment the fact that ratepayers are paying for these legal bills in many instances. I do not think it is the expectation of any mayor or elected member or of any of us that ratepayers should be footing the bill for these issues. What it points to is that the systems that they are relying on are broken or unsustainable.

Mediation, investigations, lawyers are all being brought into the fold. Time and energy is being diverted from the job of serving communities. By-elections seem to be triggered left, right and centre at the moment. SafeWork SA can be called in and, indeed, has been called in, but this issue is not isolated to one council. Whether it is Tea Tree Gully, Burnside, Mount Barker, Adelaide Hills, the list goes on and on.

I note also that there are many who have spoken to me who have said they do not have the problems that other councils have in their areas, but they are speaking in support of this because ultimately it impacts local government overall and it impacts, I guess, the faith that we have in local government overall to be able to undertake their duties.

I have been told that there are several councils, both current and recent, where dominant factions within council—sometimes supported by administration, sometimes not—create environments that foster the sort of behaviour that we have talked about. This has been described to me as 'the weaponisation of local government', that the atmosphere often leads to the exclusion and isolation of elected mayors. Mayors who speak out against misconduct then face complaints that appear to be aimed at silencing them.

They have said that under the current system, if a complaint is lodged, they can often secure the support of councillors or council, and this of course has a flow-on impact in terms of the other issues I have just talked about for ratepayers, but the person who is the subject of the complaint typically receives no assistance and has to pay for their own defence. Of course, in addition to the financial toll, we know that this has had—is having, continues to have and has had previously—a huge financial, physical, mental burden on not only individuals but the ones that we do not talk about often in these things, and that is the families that they go home to every day.

As I said before, this is not just about women, but many of the high-profile cases that I have pointed to today do centre around women who have reached their breaking point. They have done so silently. They have done so, in some cases, publicly, and they have done so, in others, behind closed doors to people who will listen to them. They have been left to navigate what they say are unsafe environments and an inadequate system.

I think it is important that we acknowledge each and every person who has a story and has found the courage to tell that story. They are, I think, deeply invested in improving the system, otherwise they would not do what they have done. These are intelligent, capable people. They are community leaders. We rely on them each and every day in our own respective areas, and they are telling us that something has to give.

They are telling us that they are not only afraid to speak out because of the consequences but also that they cannot tolerate not speaking out anymore. They are the stories that we have to be willing to listen to. It is not going to do us any good having them come in here and tell us all of this, but it will absolutely shine a spotlight on the issues if we hand that over to the equal opportunity commissioner and allow her, through the experience of her office and the authority and independence that she has, to undertake this role.

I want to refer to a story yesterday by Mike Smithson. He has referred to what is going on at the moment in local councils as 'a blood sport with a stench and hot air emanating' from particular councils. There is a council at the moment, we know, which has been very much in the headlines. I think he has hit the nail on the head from a ratepayer's perspective in his commentary, and that is that we have these cultural issues. I do not think personality clashes are necessarily always the case, but they may stem from those in the first instance.

The bottom line is that somebody is paying for all that, and the people who are paying for all that are not just the ratepayers. They are paying their rates towards legal fees that they would otherwise not want to be paying towards—they would rather put them towards things in the community that actually help their community thrive—but they are also paying at a personal level. Those councillors and elected members and staff are also paying at a very personal level, and I just do not think that is okay. I do not think that any of us reading this every day think it is okay. I certainly do not think the minister responsible thinks it is okay.

I have heard about the most recent spate of resignations, and let me be clear: all of the resignations are not for the same reason. Some people have just chosen to leave, and I think that is a very important point that I need to make. Some have chosen to leave, but others have said, 'I can't do this anymore,' and they are resigning. What our headlines are showing is that they are resigning in comparative droves compared to the number of councils that we have across the state and what they ought to be doing.

That diminishes our faith in local government. That is our third tier of government. We need to have faith that local government can undertake their jobs the way that we expect them to and provide the services to community the way that we expect them to, and right now they cannot. I am pleading with this place and with the government and the opposition to support this motion so that we can, as I said, rip that bandaid off and let someone who knows what they are doing come in—there is nothing to fear—and look into those systemic issues that are giving rise to the number of complaints that we are seeing and investigations that are undergoing and give us some positive tools to be able to deal with them. On that note, I seek leave to conclude my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.