Council sexism row flares
A KINGBOROUGH councillor insists he’s not sexist, but claims he’s been smeared and painted as such by some of his colleagues in the chamber.
Councillor David Grace is attempting to fight a code of conduct complaint made against him by his fellow councillors, who say he used offensive and threatening language during a workshop.
The code of conduct was upheld and Mr Grace was obliged to make a formal apology and seek anger manageto
ment training, but he says his colleagues continue to “besmirch” his character in public and on social media.
Mr Grace filed a complaint the local government director in an attempt to extract an apology from seven councillors as well as former mayor Dean Winter.
The director dismissed the complaint, and general manager Gary Arnold has told Mr Grace that he should contact each of the councillors if he wanted an apology.
However, Mr Grace maintains he wants a formal, public apology and has lodged another complaint to the Local Government Minister, local government director, and state Premier.
Mr Grace said he wanted an apology from mayor Paula Wriedt, who he claims has continued to criticise him to win “sympathy support” from the public. “This continual besmirching of my character is upsetting and unfair,” he said.
“I have done the crime and paid the price and surely I should now be eligible to continue with my work.”
Ms Wriedt said she couldn’t believe she was being victimshamed by the man who had verbally threatened her with violence.
Mr Grace said he “honestly can’t remember” having done so, but other councillors allege he said “I’ll put you on your tail” after she criticised him for perceived sexist remarks.
“It’s concerning to me, as the victim in this, that all of a sudden that he’s pointing to me as the one at fault,” Ms Wriedt said.
“No amount of him saying he’s being vilified for being sexist can take away from the fact that he [verbally] threatened me.”
Ms Wriedt said she and other councillors had tried to put the unpleasantness behind them and mend the relationship, but claimed Mr Grace continued to ignore their overtures.
“I’m trying to make amends to Mr Grace. We say hello to him when we see him in the chamber, but he doesn’t respond to us,” she said.
“It happened, he got a penalty, and he needs to move on.”
However Marjon Kolabinski, who is Mr Grace’s legal advocate, said they would continue to fight the case until he received an apology and his reputation was restored.