Former ally lashes Lyons
A FORMER staffer of Darryn Lyons has questioned the political aspirant’s repeated claims he was sacked as Geelong mayor for political reasons.
Wendy Hatton was a longtime friend of Mr Lyons, worked on his campaign to be elected Geelong mayor in 2013, and later had a job as his administrative officer at City Hall.
But things soured and Ms Hatton left the City of Greater Geelong amid allegations of bullying at the council. Mr Lyons is now campaigning to be a state MP.
On Twitter on Saturday night, she said she was “fed up” with claims the mayor and his council were sacked by the Labor Party for political reasons.
“People have no idea of the incidents that happened for the state government to step in #itwasNOT political,” she tweeted.
“What you’ve read does not even scratch the surface of what went on . . . you have no idea what staff went through.”
Ms Hatton was unwilling to elaborate publicly on her posts yesterday.
In late 2015 reports emerged that Ms Hatton and Mr Lyons’ mayoral adviser, Alister Paterson, had been relocated from the mayor’s customised office on the ground flood to the second floor at City Hall.
Mr Lyons took the extraordinary step of threatening legal action against CoGG and its chief executive Kelvin Spiller, a move he later admitted was a mistake.
The CoGG council was sacked in 2016 following a report from a Commission of Inquiry that alleged widespread bullying and dysfunction inside City Hall.
The report found: “The mayor, although committed to the betterment of the city, has been unable to build good working relationships with either councillors or council staff.
“His bullying treatment of staff in his own office has damaged their health and wellbeing, resulting in the resignation of one staff member and the physical relocation of another.
“The mayor’s threats of legal action against the chief executive officer and the council if the bullying complaints against him were ever published demonstrate little commitment by him to workplace health and safety”.
Meanwhile, Mr Lyons yesterday complained that a Labor Party advertising camapaign against him highlighting his affiliation to the Liberal Party and his “fake abs” might be viewed as a form of “bullying” and “bodyshaming”.