City Hall mum on tweeter

Council exodus continues

A SENIOR council officer has made a mysterious exit from City Hall less than a fortnight after complaining about her pay on social media.

The departure of Central Geelong and Waterfront Manager Dr Fiona Gray sees her join a growing exodus of council staffers.

The Geelong Advertiser understands Dr Gray’s boss called her into a meeting to explain comments she posted on Twitter last month. In the post she complains about being paid 18 per cent less than a male colleague.

Last night, following enquiries from the Addy, Dr Gray once again took to Twitter, this time with a more genial message for the council.

“And so the end of my time (at Geelong council) is nigh. How fortunate I’ve been to work with such talented, dedicated & caring colleagues,” she wrote.

On August 31 Dr Gray hit out at being paid less than a male colleague when responding to a tweet from the national Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

“So today on Equal Pay Day I inadvertently learnt that I am being paid 18% less than a male colleague performing an equivalent role with the same level of responsibility but who possesses lesser qualifications. Umm, what....? #GenderPayGap” she tweeted.

“To add some perspective, that’s almost one full day per week that I work for free when compared to my colleague! Without any conceit, I am quite certain that my output and value are not four fifths that of my colleague’s so how is this okay? #StillSeething”

Dr Gray said raising awareness of gender pay inequity was “much needed”.

“Pay scales are only set up to certain level. Managers and executives must negotiate their salary. I found the negotiation process to be thoroughly opaque, being handled via a third party recruitment agency.”

Dr Gray — an adjunct associate professor at Deakin University — was appointed to her role in April last year after more than 20 years of industry experience as a practicing architect and postdoctoral research fellow.

She has written extensively on the “urban blight” of the Little Malop St mall and championed “a proactive approach” to encourage more people into the area rather than seeking to drive the “mall rats” away.

She has flagged council incentives for small business owners and repurposing vacant shops as ways to improve the CBD.

Dr Gray’s departure follows revelations that council staff turnover was at a nine-year high, with 197 permanent staff leaving in the year to June.

Geelong council Investment and Attraction director Brett Luxford said council’s staff turnover rate of 10.9 per cent in 2017-18 was lower than the average of 13.58 per cent for comparable Victorian councils.

The council refused to comment on the reasons for Dr Gray’s departure.