Bizarre spat over comment

A TOOWOOMBA councillor is accused of telling her colleague to “look out” in a bizarre spat that brought Tuesday’s meeting to a halt.

Rebecca Vonhoff said fellow councillor Carol Taylor used the phrase during a fiery post-vote discussion between motions.

It is understood Ms Taylor was asked which way she voted on the previous matter, with video of the meeting showing she didn’t raise her hand and chair Bill Cahill only calling for ayes.

Under local government rules, if a councillor doesn’t raise their hand in either the affirmative or the negative, they are determined to have voted in the latter.

Just as the next speaker started, Ms Vonhoff interrupted the meeting to inform the chamber of the interaction.

“I just want to raise a comment that councillor Taylor just said to me in this council space, where we’re supposed to be respectful. She just said, ‘look out’,” she said.

Ms Taylor said the disagreement was over confusion around committee procedure, but didn’t deny she said it.

“Mr chair, I said ‘look out’, I voted,” she said.

“This is committee, I think it’s a lack of understanding of process.

“I don’t appreciate being called out in a public meeting when I’m observing the right procedure.”

Mr Cahill apologised for not calling for nays during the previous motion, urging both parties to discuss the matter out of session.

“I would urge the two of you to probably take the discussion offline and sort it out first, and then I’ll take some advice if you want to take matters any further,” he said.

Ms Vonhoff sent a statement to The Chronicle after the meeting, saying councillors should lead by example.

Ms Taylor declined to comment, other than to say she had offered an apology over the matter.