12-05-2025
Baw Baw council Mayor Danny Goss suspended after 'aggressive' conduct in meetings
A regional Victorian mayor will be suspended for 21 days from Thursday after an arbiter found his behaviour in meetings more than a year ago resulted in misconduct.
The arbiter was called in to investigate allegations against Baw Baw Shire Council Mayor Danny Goss and found he was "nasty and aggressive" and "abusive and threatening" during meetings in March and April last year.
During a closed meeting in March 2024 the arbiter found Cr Goss told a young, female councillor to "shut up", "bottle it" and "get some experience".
The arbiter's report into his behaviour and his subsequent punishment, seen by the ABC, is only being tabled at the local government level this week almost a year on from the initial complaints.
In the 10 months between December 2023-September 2024 Cr Goss posted to his Facebook page regularly saying that council should stop concerning itself with issues outside of its remit and that councils were becoming too "woke".
He was calling for council to stop putting motions forward in support of causes such as the Gaza conflict and re-naming places within the shire to honour notable women.
Tomorrow, a report from internal arbiter Lily O'Neill will be tabled by the Baw Baw Shire Council and a formal punishment will be issued.
Dr O'Neill found that in March last year during a disagreement in a closed meeting of council Cr Goss told former mayor Annemarie McCabe that voters in Drouin would "come after her with baseball bats" in relation to a policy position.
Former councillor Jazmin Tauru told the arbiter that in that same meeting, Cr Goss had told her to "shut up", "bottle it" and "get some experience".
She was elected at just 21 years of age but after one term chose not to stand for re-election.
After that meeting she asked for all future councillor-only meetings to be attended by the chief executive officer, and mostly attended the rest of the year's council meetings via video-link rather than being there in person.
Ms Tauru told the ABC she did not wish to comment on the report and was still "processing the events" that occurred during her council term.
In May 2024 three councillors applied for arbitration about Danny Goss's behaviour.
A week later he told his fellow councillors to "stick to the knitting".
It drew ire from some community members and resonated with others.
It is unclear whether he was aware of the arbitration application at that stage.
However, the arbiter found his use of words did not breach councillor standards.
"The application called this phrase 'misogynistic' and 'disrespectful'," Dr O'Neill said.
"Having viewed the relevant section, on balance, I accept Cr Goss's evidence that this expression was a colloquialism to mean that he believed these committees to be outside the remit of council.
"I find that these comments were delivered in reasonable manner."
In response to one female community member calling out his turn of phrase, Cr Goss wrote a letter to the editor in the local paper, the Warragul and Drouin Gazette, naming the woman and directing her to a dictionary for a definition.
"The fact that councillors want to establish a gender committee and will allocate $150,999-plus for a gender job in this year's budget is disappointing when there are so many issues in Baw Baw Shire and a massive shortage of money," he wrote.
"The responsibility of local government is stick to the basics and to provide basic infrastructure and services.
"It isn't to establish gender equity committees to right some perceived wrong … it isn't to waste time and effort on street names."
He then spelled out causes including new footpaths, a bus shelter and drainage, which he had been campaigning for.
He said his fellow councillors had been absent when he was advocating for those projects.
"I was elected to do a job and those that gave me that privilege expect me to do just that — and not be distracted by this nonsense."
In March this year Cr Goss apologised to the former councillors for his comments during last year's "acrimonious" debates.
Dr O'Neill said he had suggested the apology when she met with him.
"In looking back I regret the comments I made at that time," he said.
"My view is we should own our mistakes.
Cr Goss was re-elected to the Baw Baw Shire Council at last year's November elections.
Following tomorrow night's council meeting he will be suspended for 21 days.
Cr Goss has been contacted by the ABC for comment but has declined to comment until after the meeting.
