'Six months of hell': review to sort vexatious council complaints from misconduct
Local councillors could be penalised for making "vexatious" complaints about their colleagues in an attempt to drive down grievance reports to the state government regulator.
The impending suspension of Snowy Monaro Regional councillor Andrew Thaler for three months over comments made on social media was a hot topic at the Local Government NSW rural and regional summit held in Sydney on May 8.
One of the targets of Mr Thaler's online comments, Tanya Higgins, thanked the Office of Local Government for its response to the conduct, which also requires Mr Thaler to apologise for his actions.
"We've gone through six months of hell," she told local government deputy secretary Brett Whitworth from the floor of the conference.
"I'm not an accountant or a lawyer, but I'm a woman in local government who has felt unsafe, unable to do my job the way I should be able to do it - and that is not right."
Mr Thaler was reported in Sydney media as calling Ms Higgins a "fat dumb blonde" in a March 5 video.
In a local interview published on YouTube on May 9, Mr Thaler doubled down. "I called a fat councillor a fat liar," he said in the interview, which he also linked to from his own social media with the text: 'am sorry'.
"I used the word as an intensive and a play on words," he said in the video.
But Ms Higgins also wanted to know if the Snowy Monaro experiences would influence the ongoing review of the councillor code of conduct.
"I would like some assurances that this hasn't been for nothing," she said.
"I know your team have been working really hard and I just hope there's time for this to be brought into that reform process."
Mr Thaler said he would be fighting the suspension, due to start later this month.
"No, of course it's not fair. It's a load of shit and I will be fighting it," he told ACM, the publisher of this masthead.
He accused Ms Higgins of calling him "the ugliest man alive" a number of years ago.
Meanwhile, Mr Whitworth said he hoped to establish a system in which "bad behaviour" concerns were sent to a privileges committee to be judged by a panel of peers and alleged "serious misconduct" was investigated by his office.
The review was also examining how to reduce unfounded complaints without jeopardising freedom of political communication.
"We will also need to look at what are the incentives to prevent people from making vexatious complaints," he told councillors gathered at the State Library of NSW.
"The minister has also asked me to look at ... whether there are powers that I already have under the Local Government Act to actually take action against councillors that are making vexatious complaints against other councillors."
In 2023-24, there were 1242 complaints lodged about councils state wide, 40 of those misconduct referrals.
In the past five financial years, the Office of Local Government has recorded a total of 6,223 council complaints. Of those, 189 were misconduct referrals.
There were 27 misconduct investigations in that time.
At the rural and regional councillor summit, Lithgow councillor Elizabeth Fredericks pointed to the case of Bathurst colleague Sophie Wright, who told the Western Advocate in April she had so many code of conduct complaints against her she had to withdraw from committees to find the time to respond to them all.
"Haters" were using the code of conduct to harass councillors, Ms Fredericks said.
"If you want us to be a third-level government, you need to start giving us the protection that the other two have."
Any reforms also needed to protect people's right to free communication, Mr Whitworth said.
"[The Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig] has also asked me to try and better define how that implied freedom of political communication can be understood and expressed and applied," he said.
Local councillors could be penalised for making "vexatious" complaints about their colleagues in an attempt to drive down grievance reports to the state government regulator.
The impending suspension of Snowy Monaro Regional councillor Andrew Thaler for three months over comments made on social media was a hot topic at the Local Government NSW rural and regional summit held in Sydney on May 8.
One of the targets of Mr Thaler's online comments, Tanya Higgins, thanked the Office of Local Government for its response to the conduct, which also requires Mr Thaler to apologise for his actions.
"We've gone through six months of hell," she told local government deputy secretary Brett Whitworth from the floor of the conference.
"I'm not an accountant or a lawyer, but I'm a woman in local government who has felt unsafe, unable to do my job the way I should be able to do it - and that is not right."
Mr Thaler was reported in Sydney media as calling Ms Higgins a "fat dumb blonde" in a March 5 video.
In a local interview published on YouTube on May 9, Mr Thaler doubled down. "I called a fat councillor a fat liar," he said in the interview, which he also linked to from his own social media with the text: 'am sorry'.
"I used the word as an intensive and a play on words," he said in the video.
But Ms Higgins also wanted to know if the Snowy Monaro experiences would influence the ongoing review of the councillor code of conduct.
"I would like some assurances that this hasn't been for nothing," she said.
"I know your team have been working really hard and I just hope there's time for this to be brought into that reform process."
Mr Thaler said he would be fighting the suspension, due to start later this month.
"No, of course it's not fair. It's a load of shit and I will be fighting it," he told ACM, the publisher of this masthead.
He accused Ms Higgins of calling him "the ugliest man alive" a number of years ago.
Meanwhile, Mr Whitworth said he hoped to establish a system in which "bad behaviour" concerns were sent to a privileges committee to be judged by a panel of peers and alleged "serious misconduct" was investigated by his office.
The review was also examining how to reduce unfounded complaints without jeopardising freedom of political communication.
"We will also need to look at what are the incentives to prevent people from making vexatious complaints," he told councillors gathered at the State Library of NSW.
"The minister has also asked me to look at ... whether there are powers that I already have under the Local Government Act to actually take action against councillors that are making vexatious complaints against other councillors."
In 2023-24, there were 1242 complaints lodged about councils state wide, 40 of those misconduct referrals.
In the past five financial years, the Office of Local Government has recorded a total of 6,223 council complaints. Of those, 189 were misconduct referrals.
There were 27 misconduct investigations in that time.
At the rural and regional councillor summit, Lithgow councillor Elizabeth Fredericks pointed to the case of Bathurst colleague Sophie Wright, who told the Western Advocate in April she had so many code of conduct complaints against her she had to withdraw from committees to find the time to respond to them all.
"Haters" were using the code of conduct to harass councillors, Ms Fredericks said.
"If you want us to be a third-level government, you need to start giving us the protection that the other two have."
Any reforms also needed to protect people's right to free communication, Mr Whitworth said.
"[The Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig] has also asked me to try and better define how that implied freedom of political communication can be understood and expressed and applied," he said.
Local councillors could be penalised for making "vexatious" complaints about their colleagues in an attempt to drive down grievance reports to the state government regulator.
The impending suspension of Snowy Monaro Regional councillor Andrew Thaler for three months over comments made on social media was a hot topic at the Local Government NSW rural and regional summit held in Sydney on May 8.
One of the targets of Mr Thaler's online comments, Tanya Higgins, thanked the Office of Local Government for its response to the conduct, which also requires Mr Thaler to apologise for his actions.
"We've gone through six months of hell," she told local government deputy secretary Brett Whitworth from the floor of the conference.
"I'm not an accountant or a lawyer, but I'm a woman in local government who has felt unsafe, unable to do my job the way I should be able to do it - and that is not right."
Mr Thaler was reported in Sydney media as calling Ms Higgins a "fat dumb blonde" in a March 5 video.
In a local interview published on YouTube on May 9, Mr Thaler doubled down. "I called a fat councillor a fat liar," he said in the interview, which he also linked to from his own social media with the text: 'am sorry'.
"I used the word as an intensive and a play on words," he said in the video.
But Ms Higgins also wanted to know if the Snowy Monaro experiences would influence the ongoing review of the councillor code of conduct.
"I would like some assurances that this hasn't been for nothing," she said.
"I know your team have been working really hard and I just hope there's time for this to be brought into that reform process."
Mr Thaler said he would be fighting the suspension, due to start later this month.
"No, of course it's not fair. It's a load of shit and I will be fighting it," he told ACM, the publisher of this masthead.
He accused Ms Higgins of calling him "the ugliest man alive" a number of years ago.
Meanwhile, Mr Whitworth said he hoped to establish a system in which "bad behaviour" concerns were sent to a privileges committee to be judged by a panel of peers and alleged "serious misconduct" was investigated by his office.
The review was also examining how to reduce unfounded complaints without jeopardising freedom of political communication.
"We will also need to look at what are the incentives to prevent people from making vexatious complaints," he told councillors gathered at the State Library of NSW.
"The minister has also asked me to look at ... whether there are powers that I already have under the Local Government Act to actually take action against councillors that are making vexatious complaints against other councillors."
In 2023-24, there were 1242 complaints lodged about councils state wide, 40 of those misconduct referrals.
In the past five financial years, the Office of Local Government has recorded a total of 6,223 council complaints. Of those, 189 were misconduct referrals.
There were 27 misconduct investigations in that time.
At the rural and regional councillor summit, Lithgow councillor Elizabeth Fredericks pointed to the case of Bathurst colleague Sophie Wright, who told the Western Advocate in April she had so many code of conduct complaints against her she had to withdraw from committees to find the time to respond to them all.
"Haters" were using the code of conduct to harass councillors, Ms Fredericks said.
"If you want us to be a third-level government, you need to start giving us the protection that the other two have."
Any reforms also needed to protect people's right to free communication, Mr Whitworth said.
"[The Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig] has also asked me to try and better define how that implied freedom of political communication can be understood and expressed and applied," he said.
Local councillors could be penalised for making "vexatious" complaints about their colleagues in an attempt to drive down grievance reports to the state government regulator.
The impending suspension of Snowy Monaro Regional councillor Andrew Thaler for three months over comments made on social media was a hot topic at the Local Government NSW rural and regional summit held in Sydney on May 8.
One of the targets of Mr Thaler's online comments, Tanya Higgins, thanked the Office of Local Government for its response to the conduct, which also requires Mr Thaler to apologise for his actions.
"We've gone through six months of hell," she told local government deputy secretary Brett Whitworth from the floor of the conference.
"I'm not an accountant or a lawyer, but I'm a woman in local government who has felt unsafe, unable to do my job the way I should be able to do it - and that is not right."
Mr Thaler was reported in Sydney media as calling Ms Higgins a "fat dumb blonde" in a March 5 video.
In a local interview published on YouTube on May 9, Mr Thaler doubled down. "I called a fat councillor a fat liar," he said in the interview, which he also linked to from his own social media with the text: 'am sorry'.
"I used the word as an intensive and a play on words," he said in the video.
But Ms Higgins also wanted to know if the Snowy Monaro experiences would influence the ongoing review of the councillor code of conduct.
"I would like some assurances that this hasn't been for nothing," she said.
"I know your team have been working really hard and I just hope there's time for this to be brought into that reform process."
Mr Thaler said he would be fighting the suspension, due to start later this month.
"No, of course it's not fair. It's a load of shit and I will be fighting it," he told ACM, the publisher of this masthead.
He accused Ms Higgins of calling him "the ugliest man alive" a number of years ago.
Meanwhile, Mr Whitworth said he hoped to establish a system in which "bad behaviour" concerns were sent to a privileges committee to be judged by a panel of peers and alleged "serious misconduct" was investigated by his office.
The review was also examining how to reduce unfounded complaints without jeopardising freedom of political communication.
"We will also need to look at what are the incentives to prevent people from making vexatious complaints," he told councillors gathered at the State Library of NSW.
"The minister has also asked me to look at ... whether there are powers that I already have under the Local Government Act to actually take action against councillors that are making vexatious complaints against other councillors."
In 2023-24, there were 1242 complaints lodged about councils state wide, 40 of those misconduct referrals.
In the past five financial years, the Office of Local Government has recorded a total of 6,223 council complaints. Of those, 189 were misconduct referrals.
There were 27 misconduct investigations in that time.
At the rural and regional councillor summit, Lithgow councillor Elizabeth Fredericks pointed to the case of Bathurst colleague Sophie Wright, who told the Western Advocate in April she had so many code of conduct complaints against her she had to withdraw from committees to find the time to respond to them all.
"Haters" were using the code of conduct to harass councillors, Ms Fredericks said.
"If you want us to be a third-level government, you need to start giving us the protection that the other two have."
Any reforms also needed to protect people's right to free communication, Mr Whitworth said.
"[The Local Government Minister Ron Hoenig] has also asked me to try and better define how that implied freedom of political communication can be understood and expressed and applied," he said.
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The Advertiser
2 days ago
- The Advertiser
Scott Morrison lauded with highest King's Birthday honour for COVID leadership
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been recognised with the highest award in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours list. Mr Morrison was made a Companion of the Order of Australia on June 8 for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and brokering the trilateral security partnership AUKUS. Mr Morrison, 57, served as Australia's 30th prime minister from 2018 to 2022. In a statement to ACM, the publisher of this masthead, Mr Morrison said he was "honoured and grateful" to receive the accolade. "It was an immense privilege to be given the opportunity by the Australian people to serve them, as their 30th Prime Minister of Australia from August 2018 to May 2022," he said. "During this time, Australia faced challenges and threats not experienced since the Second World War." "These ranged from unrelenting natural disasters and a once-in-a-century global pandemic and the recession it caused, to coercion and intimidation designed to threaten our support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a world order that favours freedom and our strong bond with allies and partners," Mr Morrison said. Mr Morrison won the safe seat of Cook in Sydney's Sutherland Shire in 2007 and was swiftly appointed to the shadow cabinet after a stellar career as Liberal Party state director and head of Tourism Australia. In 2013, he became immigration minister in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government where he coordinated the government's asylum seeker response known as Operation Sovereign Borders. In the reshuffle the following year, he was appointed social services minister and later treasurer in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government. READ MORE: Search the full King's Birthday Honours List In August 2018, he was sworn in as prime minister, rising to the leadership as a compromise candidate after Peter Dutton challenged Malcom Turnbull in a bruising leadership battle. Mr Morrison won a second term in May 2019 in a surprise victory despite the Coalition lagging in the polls in the weeks leading up to election day. He famously declared "I have always believed in miracles." Mr Morrison's career was also marked by controversy, including taking a family holiday in Hawaii during the Black Summer bushfires. He also faced backlash over his handling of parliamentary misconduct allegations and for his secret ministries scandal for which he was censured in November 2022 for failing to disclose his secret self-appointments to a number of ministries. Mr Morrison's government was defeated at the 2022 election after a large swing away from the Coalition and a clutch of "teal" independent wins in inner city seats. During the campaign, Mr Morrison famously crash-tackled eight-year-old student Luca Fauvette while visiting Devonport Strikers soccer club practice in northern Tasmania. He paid tribute to his wife Jenny and two "miracle girls" Abbey and Lily, who were conceived by the couple after years of infertility, during his valedictory speech in February 2023. "As most people know, subject only to God, my family is the centre of my life, and at the very centre of our family is Jen," he said. "I cannot imagine life without her. I love you, Jen, and always will- that is the cross you have to bear. "Your love has been my stay and strength." He left politics "appreciative and thankful, unburdened by offences and released from any bitterness that can so often haunt post-political lives". "This is due to my faith in Jesus Christ, which gives me the faith to both forgive, but also to be honest about my own failures and shortcomings," he said. Mr Morrison has worked as an advisor to various lobby groups and as a public speaker in his career after public service. He released Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister's Testimony of God's Faithfulness in 2023, a part-political memoir, part-spiritual guide. One of the revelations in the book is that he used medication to treat anxiety between 2018 and 2022, a period that covers his time as prime minister. Mr Morrison also made headlines earlier this year after a photo album his wife accidentally donated to a charity shop was picked up by a TikToker. It was later safely returned. Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been recognised with the highest award in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours list. Mr Morrison was made a Companion of the Order of Australia on June 8 for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and brokering the trilateral security partnership AUKUS. Mr Morrison, 57, served as Australia's 30th prime minister from 2018 to 2022. In a statement to ACM, the publisher of this masthead, Mr Morrison said he was "honoured and grateful" to receive the accolade. "It was an immense privilege to be given the opportunity by the Australian people to serve them, as their 30th Prime Minister of Australia from August 2018 to May 2022," he said. "During this time, Australia faced challenges and threats not experienced since the Second World War." "These ranged from unrelenting natural disasters and a once-in-a-century global pandemic and the recession it caused, to coercion and intimidation designed to threaten our support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a world order that favours freedom and our strong bond with allies and partners," Mr Morrison said. Mr Morrison won the safe seat of Cook in Sydney's Sutherland Shire in 2007 and was swiftly appointed to the shadow cabinet after a stellar career as Liberal Party state director and head of Tourism Australia. In 2013, he became immigration minister in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government where he coordinated the government's asylum seeker response known as Operation Sovereign Borders. In the reshuffle the following year, he was appointed social services minister and later treasurer in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government. READ MORE: Search the full King's Birthday Honours List In August 2018, he was sworn in as prime minister, rising to the leadership as a compromise candidate after Peter Dutton challenged Malcom Turnbull in a bruising leadership battle. Mr Morrison won a second term in May 2019 in a surprise victory despite the Coalition lagging in the polls in the weeks leading up to election day. He famously declared "I have always believed in miracles." Mr Morrison's career was also marked by controversy, including taking a family holiday in Hawaii during the Black Summer bushfires. He also faced backlash over his handling of parliamentary misconduct allegations and for his secret ministries scandal for which he was censured in November 2022 for failing to disclose his secret self-appointments to a number of ministries. Mr Morrison's government was defeated at the 2022 election after a large swing away from the Coalition and a clutch of "teal" independent wins in inner city seats. During the campaign, Mr Morrison famously crash-tackled eight-year-old student Luca Fauvette while visiting Devonport Strikers soccer club practice in northern Tasmania. He paid tribute to his wife Jenny and two "miracle girls" Abbey and Lily, who were conceived by the couple after years of infertility, during his valedictory speech in February 2023. "As most people know, subject only to God, my family is the centre of my life, and at the very centre of our family is Jen," he said. "I cannot imagine life without her. I love you, Jen, and always will- that is the cross you have to bear. "Your love has been my stay and strength." He left politics "appreciative and thankful, unburdened by offences and released from any bitterness that can so often haunt post-political lives". "This is due to my faith in Jesus Christ, which gives me the faith to both forgive, but also to be honest about my own failures and shortcomings," he said. Mr Morrison has worked as an advisor to various lobby groups and as a public speaker in his career after public service. He released Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister's Testimony of God's Faithfulness in 2023, a part-political memoir, part-spiritual guide. One of the revelations in the book is that he used medication to treat anxiety between 2018 and 2022, a period that covers his time as prime minister. Mr Morrison also made headlines earlier this year after a photo album his wife accidentally donated to a charity shop was picked up by a TikToker. It was later safely returned. Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been recognised with the highest award in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours list. Mr Morrison was made a Companion of the Order of Australia on June 8 for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and brokering the trilateral security partnership AUKUS. Mr Morrison, 57, served as Australia's 30th prime minister from 2018 to 2022. In a statement to ACM, the publisher of this masthead, Mr Morrison said he was "honoured and grateful" to receive the accolade. "It was an immense privilege to be given the opportunity by the Australian people to serve them, as their 30th Prime Minister of Australia from August 2018 to May 2022," he said. "During this time, Australia faced challenges and threats not experienced since the Second World War." "These ranged from unrelenting natural disasters and a once-in-a-century global pandemic and the recession it caused, to coercion and intimidation designed to threaten our support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a world order that favours freedom and our strong bond with allies and partners," Mr Morrison said. Mr Morrison won the safe seat of Cook in Sydney's Sutherland Shire in 2007 and was swiftly appointed to the shadow cabinet after a stellar career as Liberal Party state director and head of Tourism Australia. In 2013, he became immigration minister in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government where he coordinated the government's asylum seeker response known as Operation Sovereign Borders. In the reshuffle the following year, he was appointed social services minister and later treasurer in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government. READ MORE: Search the full King's Birthday Honours List In August 2018, he was sworn in as prime minister, rising to the leadership as a compromise candidate after Peter Dutton challenged Malcom Turnbull in a bruising leadership battle. Mr Morrison won a second term in May 2019 in a surprise victory despite the Coalition lagging in the polls in the weeks leading up to election day. He famously declared "I have always believed in miracles." Mr Morrison's career was also marked by controversy, including taking a family holiday in Hawaii during the Black Summer bushfires. He also faced backlash over his handling of parliamentary misconduct allegations and for his secret ministries scandal for which he was censured in November 2022 for failing to disclose his secret self-appointments to a number of ministries. Mr Morrison's government was defeated at the 2022 election after a large swing away from the Coalition and a clutch of "teal" independent wins in inner city seats. During the campaign, Mr Morrison famously crash-tackled eight-year-old student Luca Fauvette while visiting Devonport Strikers soccer club practice in northern Tasmania. He paid tribute to his wife Jenny and two "miracle girls" Abbey and Lily, who were conceived by the couple after years of infertility, during his valedictory speech in February 2023. "As most people know, subject only to God, my family is the centre of my life, and at the very centre of our family is Jen," he said. "I cannot imagine life without her. I love you, Jen, and always will- that is the cross you have to bear. "Your love has been my stay and strength." He left politics "appreciative and thankful, unburdened by offences and released from any bitterness that can so often haunt post-political lives". "This is due to my faith in Jesus Christ, which gives me the faith to both forgive, but also to be honest about my own failures and shortcomings," he said. Mr Morrison has worked as an advisor to various lobby groups and as a public speaker in his career after public service. He released Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister's Testimony of God's Faithfulness in 2023, a part-political memoir, part-spiritual guide. One of the revelations in the book is that he used medication to treat anxiety between 2018 and 2022, a period that covers his time as prime minister. Mr Morrison also made headlines earlier this year after a photo album his wife accidentally donated to a charity shop was picked up by a TikToker. It was later safely returned. Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been recognised with the highest award in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours list. Mr Morrison was made a Companion of the Order of Australia on June 8 for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and brokering the trilateral security partnership AUKUS. Mr Morrison, 57, served as Australia's 30th prime minister from 2018 to 2022. In a statement to ACM, the publisher of this masthead, Mr Morrison said he was "honoured and grateful" to receive the accolade. "It was an immense privilege to be given the opportunity by the Australian people to serve them, as their 30th Prime Minister of Australia from August 2018 to May 2022," he said. "During this time, Australia faced challenges and threats not experienced since the Second World War." "These ranged from unrelenting natural disasters and a once-in-a-century global pandemic and the recession it caused, to coercion and intimidation designed to threaten our support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a world order that favours freedom and our strong bond with allies and partners," Mr Morrison said. Mr Morrison won the safe seat of Cook in Sydney's Sutherland Shire in 2007 and was swiftly appointed to the shadow cabinet after a stellar career as Liberal Party state director and head of Tourism Australia. In 2013, he became immigration minister in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government where he coordinated the government's asylum seeker response known as Operation Sovereign Borders. In the reshuffle the following year, he was appointed social services minister and later treasurer in Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government. READ MORE: Search the full King's Birthday Honours List In August 2018, he was sworn in as prime minister, rising to the leadership as a compromise candidate after Peter Dutton challenged Malcom Turnbull in a bruising leadership battle. Mr Morrison won a second term in May 2019 in a surprise victory despite the Coalition lagging in the polls in the weeks leading up to election day. He famously declared "I have always believed in miracles." Mr Morrison's career was also marked by controversy, including taking a family holiday in Hawaii during the Black Summer bushfires. He also faced backlash over his handling of parliamentary misconduct allegations and for his secret ministries scandal for which he was censured in November 2022 for failing to disclose his secret self-appointments to a number of ministries. Mr Morrison's government was defeated at the 2022 election after a large swing away from the Coalition and a clutch of "teal" independent wins in inner city seats. During the campaign, Mr Morrison famously crash-tackled eight-year-old student Luca Fauvette while visiting Devonport Strikers soccer club practice in northern Tasmania. He paid tribute to his wife Jenny and two "miracle girls" Abbey and Lily, who were conceived by the couple after years of infertility, during his valedictory speech in February 2023. "As most people know, subject only to God, my family is the centre of my life, and at the very centre of our family is Jen," he said. "I cannot imagine life without her. I love you, Jen, and always will- that is the cross you have to bear. "Your love has been my stay and strength." He left politics "appreciative and thankful, unburdened by offences and released from any bitterness that can so often haunt post-political lives". "This is due to my faith in Jesus Christ, which gives me the faith to both forgive, but also to be honest about my own failures and shortcomings," he said. Mr Morrison has worked as an advisor to various lobby groups and as a public speaker in his career after public service. He released Plans For Your Good: A Prime Minister's Testimony of God's Faithfulness in 2023, a part-political memoir, part-spiritual guide. One of the revelations in the book is that he used medication to treat anxiety between 2018 and 2022, a period that covers his time as prime minister. Mr Morrison also made headlines earlier this year after a photo album his wife accidentally donated to a charity shop was picked up by a TikToker. It was later safely returned.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Why this Melbourne mayor's got a big crush on Sydney
NR: It was an incredibly powerful speech made off-the-cuff, but we didn't recognise the significance at the time. We had been saying for some time to the prime minister that she should call Tony Abbott out on some of his behaviour in the chamber, and not just continue with her usual stoic, dignified approach. On that particular day Abbott was needling her. And when he made the indirect reference to her father, something inside her snapped, and she unleashed. Fitz: And when you were with her back in the prime ministerial office, did she recognise it as a Gettysburg speech? NR: No, we all thought it was an incredible, heartfelt speech in the chamber. But it was also just another day of rancorous debate during a pretty tough term of parliament. Julia was always like: 'What's next? Let's move on to the next thing.' And there wasn't even much of a bump in the press gallery on the day. It was only in subsequent days when the international media picked up on it and it circulated on YouTube that the whole thing exploded. Fitz: Which, for the record, is what happened at Gettysburg. People at the time liked it, but it was only when Lincoln's words circulated via The New York Times that the whole thing truly took off! NR: Well, T he New York Times was one of many media organisations that contacted us in the days after that speech, wanting comment and interviews. It was amazing how it struck a chord around the world. Fitz: All right, so here in Sydney, we've long said that the only good thing to come out of Melbourne is the Hume Highway – boom-tish – while truly nurturing a grudging respect for the Victorian capital, and we suspect you feel the same for us. Now you've broken cover, and said some very kind things about Sydney this week, noting that we're right up there with Melbourne as one of ' the two best cities in the world '. What brought this burst of warmth for us in Sydney? NR: I feel it. I've always felt it. If I couldn't live in Melbourne, there's only one other city I would truly love to live in, and that's Sydney. And I often think that in Australia, we don't appreciate the fact that we have these two unbelievably brilliant cities … side-by-side on the east coast. 'Sydney is the movie and Melbourne is the novel.' Fitz: I love that, I think, but what do you mean, exactly? NR: Sydney is very flashy, and it's got the world's most beautiful harbour. And people who live in Sydney are obsessed by how close they can get to that harbour and what view they have of it. Melbourne has a very interesting internal life as a city. We love our bookshops, festivals, our food, our theatres, and sports. We love having conversations with ourselves, about ourselves. In Sydney, you turn up in activewear to your Mum's funeral. In Melbourne, you wear a black puffer jacket to a job interview. Fitz: All right, you also said you admired Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, 'a legend who copped a bit over the years but was someone who deserves huge credit for her vision and determination'. What do you, as a new lord mayor of Melbourne, admire about our veteran lord mayor? NR: The first thing is her electoral success. The shelf life of politicians in this country seems to have gotten shorter and shorter. And there is Clover, who has totally bucked the trend winning election after election. This has allowed her to see through policy and projects which she has been a supporter of for a long time. Look at George Street, with the [light rail] and pedestrians – it's one of the best urban development projects in the world. When I was in Sydney recently, I was walking down George Street in the evening and seeing the thousands of people walking through the centre of Sydney. It's been totally transformative. Clover can take a lot of credit for that. Fitz: You were up here to see our Vivid festival, and said you had a lot to learn from it. What, particularly? NR: In Melbourne, we are looking for new ways to activate our city during the winter months. I love what Vivid has done through incredible light projections, installations, music performances, and speaking events to bring people into the city. We'll do it in a Melbourne way, but Vivid has given us some good ideas. Fitz: In Sydney, we're dealing with a housing crisis. How's your mob going on that front? NR: We do, too, though it's not as acute as Sydney's. Our median house prices are significantly lower than Sydney's, and we don't have the same geographic constraints that Sydney faces in terms of the development of new housing. But we do have huge population growth, which means we need to keep the new housing supply coming. My municipality, the City of Melbourne, was the fastest growing capital city in Australia in percentage terms last year. I'm a proud pro-development lord mayor, and a lot of that is happening in medium and high-rise residential towers. Loading Fitz: And I gather you credit Sydney for the way you do some of it? NR: Yes, when I was first elected a councillor a number of years ago, one of the first things I did was travel to Sydney, and – just like I did last week – spent a day meeting with people at the City of Sydney and in the NSW government. Getting under the bonnet and just saying, 'What's working here, guys? What can we learn from you?' One of the ideas I got from that first trip was around Clover Moore's 'Design Excellence Program'. I ripped off many of the features of that program, introducing into Melbourne things like design review panels for new development proposals, and the use of development bonuses to reward good architecture and design. Fitz: I know the answer, of course, but remind us what a design review panel is? NR: It's a group of outstanding architects, landscape architects and urban designers who can peer-review major projects when they're submitted to the city and provide feedback on the quality of the architecture and design. We are looking for buildings that give more back to the street and the city than they take. Melbourne has a distinct design identity that is highly regarded, and the panel has proven its value by ensuring major projects use materials and concepts that represent our city and tell a story about Melbourne. Fitz: You've got my vote! And what is a 'development bonus'? NR: If they get it right, you allow them to build more on the site than they otherwise would have been able to. Fitz: I also see you're credited with introducing measures like 'forcing graffiti taggers to fund clean-ups'. What does that mean? NR: While we're famous for our street art, tagging and vandalism has been a big problem in Melbourne and so we've made a huge effort to clean up the city – including making offenders accountable for their crimes. Our 'you spray, you pay' policy means our lawyers put in victim impact statements on behalf of the community and seek orders from the court to make vandals pay or clean up their own mess. We also have new cleaning vehicles, 24/7 Clean Teams, on the street. And we introduced new targets for the removal of tagging and graffiti. Any racist, antisemitic or offensive material will be removed within an hour of it being reported.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
Why this Melbourne mayor's got a big crush on Sydney
NR: It was an incredibly powerful speech made off-the-cuff, but we didn't recognise the significance at the time. We had been saying for some time to the prime minister that she should call Tony Abbott out on some of his behaviour in the chamber, and not just continue with her usual stoic, dignified approach. On that particular day Abbott was needling her. And when he made the indirect reference to her father, something inside her snapped, and she unleashed. Fitz: And when you were with her back in the prime ministerial office, did she recognise it as a Gettysburg speech? NR: No, we all thought it was an incredible, heartfelt speech in the chamber. But it was also just another day of rancorous debate during a pretty tough term of parliament. Julia was always like: 'What's next? Let's move on to the next thing.' And there wasn't even much of a bump in the press gallery on the day. It was only in subsequent days when the international media picked up on it and it circulated on YouTube that the whole thing exploded. Fitz: Which, for the record, is what happened at Gettysburg. People at the time liked it, but it was only when Lincoln's words circulated via The New York Times that the whole thing truly took off! NR: Well, T he New York Times was one of many media organisations that contacted us in the days after that speech, wanting comment and interviews. It was amazing how it struck a chord around the world. Fitz: All right, so here in Sydney, we've long said that the only good thing to come out of Melbourne is the Hume Highway – boom-tish – while truly nurturing a grudging respect for the Victorian capital, and we suspect you feel the same for us. Now you've broken cover, and said some very kind things about Sydney this week, noting that we're right up there with Melbourne as one of ' the two best cities in the world '. What brought this burst of warmth for us in Sydney? NR: I feel it. I've always felt it. If I couldn't live in Melbourne, there's only one other city I would truly love to live in, and that's Sydney. And I often think that in Australia, we don't appreciate the fact that we have these two unbelievably brilliant cities … side-by-side on the east coast. 'Sydney is the movie and Melbourne is the novel.' Fitz: I love that, I think, but what do you mean, exactly? NR: Sydney is very flashy, and it's got the world's most beautiful harbour. And people who live in Sydney are obsessed by how close they can get to that harbour and what view they have of it. Melbourne has a very interesting internal life as a city. We love our bookshops, festivals, our food, our theatres, and sports. We love having conversations with ourselves, about ourselves. In Sydney, you turn up in activewear to your Mum's funeral. In Melbourne, you wear a black puffer jacket to a job interview. Fitz: All right, you also said you admired Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, 'a legend who copped a bit over the years but was someone who deserves huge credit for her vision and determination'. What do you, as a new lord mayor of Melbourne, admire about our veteran lord mayor? NR: The first thing is her electoral success. The shelf life of politicians in this country seems to have gotten shorter and shorter. And there is Clover, who has totally bucked the trend winning election after election. This has allowed her to see through policy and projects which she has been a supporter of for a long time. Look at George Street, with the [light rail] and pedestrians – it's one of the best urban development projects in the world. When I was in Sydney recently, I was walking down George Street in the evening and seeing the thousands of people walking through the centre of Sydney. It's been totally transformative. Clover can take a lot of credit for that. Fitz: You were up here to see our Vivid festival, and said you had a lot to learn from it. What, particularly? NR: In Melbourne, we are looking for new ways to activate our city during the winter months. I love what Vivid has done through incredible light projections, installations, music performances, and speaking events to bring people into the city. We'll do it in a Melbourne way, but Vivid has given us some good ideas. Fitz: In Sydney, we're dealing with a housing crisis. How's your mob going on that front? NR: We do, too, though it's not as acute as Sydney's. Our median house prices are significantly lower than Sydney's, and we don't have the same geographic constraints that Sydney faces in terms of the development of new housing. But we do have huge population growth, which means we need to keep the new housing supply coming. My municipality, the City of Melbourne, was the fastest growing capital city in Australia in percentage terms last year. I'm a proud pro-development lord mayor, and a lot of that is happening in medium and high-rise residential towers. Loading Fitz: And I gather you credit Sydney for the way you do some of it? NR: Yes, when I was first elected a councillor a number of years ago, one of the first things I did was travel to Sydney, and – just like I did last week – spent a day meeting with people at the City of Sydney and in the NSW government. Getting under the bonnet and just saying, 'What's working here, guys? What can we learn from you?' One of the ideas I got from that first trip was around Clover Moore's 'Design Excellence Program'. I ripped off many of the features of that program, introducing into Melbourne things like design review panels for new development proposals, and the use of development bonuses to reward good architecture and design. Fitz: I know the answer, of course, but remind us what a design review panel is? NR: It's a group of outstanding architects, landscape architects and urban designers who can peer-review major projects when they're submitted to the city and provide feedback on the quality of the architecture and design. We are looking for buildings that give more back to the street and the city than they take. Melbourne has a distinct design identity that is highly regarded, and the panel has proven its value by ensuring major projects use materials and concepts that represent our city and tell a story about Melbourne. Fitz: You've got my vote! And what is a 'development bonus'? NR: If they get it right, you allow them to build more on the site than they otherwise would have been able to. Fitz: I also see you're credited with introducing measures like 'forcing graffiti taggers to fund clean-ups'. What does that mean? NR: While we're famous for our street art, tagging and vandalism has been a big problem in Melbourne and so we've made a huge effort to clean up the city – including making offenders accountable for their crimes. Our 'you spray, you pay' policy means our lawyers put in victim impact statements on behalf of the community and seek orders from the court to make vandals pay or clean up their own mess. We also have new cleaning vehicles, 24/7 Clean Teams, on the street. And we introduced new targets for the removal of tagging and graffiti. Any racist, antisemitic or offensive material will be removed within an hour of it being reported.
