CONDUCT COSTS MAYOR $14,300 & APOLOGY
Mayor fined $14,300, ordered to apologise over Inland Rail dealings
TOOWOOMBA Mayor Paul Antonio has been fined $14,300 and referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission for investigation after a State Government panel found he had engaged in three counts of misconduct over his Inland Rail dealings. A spokesman for the CCC said it was assessing the panel’s referral. Cr Antonio will also make an admission of error and make an apology at the next meeting of the council.
The determination by the Local Government Regional Conduct Review Panel comes more than a year after Cr Antonio admitted he had paid for the design of an alternative Inland Rail route that ran near his basalt quarry, and gave copies of the route to Groom MP Dr John McVeigh and former Groom MP Ian Macfarlane.
A LOCAL government review panel has fined Mayor Paul Antonio $14,360 and recommended the Crime and Corruption Commission investigate the councillor of 37 years after it found he had engaged in three acts of misconduct as a result of his dealings with the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project.
Cr Antonio found himself in hot water in September last year after the ABC broadcast an interview in which he admitted he paid for the design of an alternative Inland Rail route that ran along the border of his Captains Mountain quarry, and gave copies of the route to Groom MP Dr John McVeigh and Queensland Resources Council CEO Ian Macfarlane.
The Chronicle can reveal that while Cr Antonio denied any wrongdoing, the Local Government Regional Conduct Review Panel found he engaged in three acts of misconduct – one for failing to declare a material personal interest at council meetings in 2016 when the council discussed and endorsed potential Inland Rail routes, another for not acting honestly or impartially by personally funding the preparation of a report on an alternate Inland Rail route that ran close to the edge of a basalt quarry he owned, and thirdly for breaching the “trust placed in him as a councillor, when he made false statements during an ABC interview and these statements caused reputational damage to the council and to councillors”.
He has been ordered by the panel to make an admission of error and an apology at Toowoomba Regional Council’s next meeting.
The panel ordered Cr Antonio pay 50 penalty units for failing to declare a material personal interest, 30 penalty units for not acting honestly or impartially, and 30 penalty units for breaching the trust placed in him as a councillor – totalling $14,360.
A fourth allegation of misconduct – that he misused information or material acquired in connection with the performance of his responsibilities “to gain a benefit for the councillor or someone else” was “not substantiated”.
Cr Antonio’s lawyer said in a statement the mayor was “very disappointed in the decision of the panel and, with great respect to the persons who made up that panel, does not consider that the decision may be justified, having regard to the sworn evidence put before the panel by Cr Antonio”.
“Cr Antonio also considers he was denied procedural fairness in the hearing process and, so, the findings of the panel are fundamentally flawed.
“Cr Antonio is presently considering his legal options with respect to appealing the decision of the panel to the Supreme Court of Queensland in order to vindicate his good name as a councillor and public servant.”
The statement also said that Cr Antonio’s ownership of the quarry had been disclosed on his register of personal interests lodged with the council and that in funding the preparation of an alternate Inland Rail line, Cr Antonio was working to “lessen the impact of the rail line on a constituent’s prime agricultural land”.
The Local Government Regional Conduct Review Panel began its investigation into Cr Antonio’s dealings with Inland Rail after the Crime and Corruption Commission assessed and referred-on two complaints arising from his September 2017 ABC interview – one from a member of the public and another from Cr Bill Cahill.
Cr Cahill alleged that during the interview, Cr Antonio had deliberately attempted to conceal important facts and that his conduct caused reputational damage to councillors and the council.
The complaint from a member of the public related to Cr Antonio’s comments during the interview, and his conduct in commissioning private engineers to establish an alternative location for the route for the Inland Rail line.
The Chronicle contacted Cr Cahill, who said he currently could not comment due to confidentiality reasons.
A spokesman for the Crime and Corruption Commission confirmed it had received the referral from the Regional Conduct Review Panel and it would be assessed in line with the watchdog’s “standard processes”.
“It is important to note that an assessment is not an investigation. When the CCC receives a complaint or a referral, it first conducts an assessment to determine whether the matter falls within the CCC’s jurisdiction, whether an investigation is warranted, and, if so, which agency should be responsible,” the spokesman said.
“As this matter remains under assessment, it is not appropriate for the CCC to comment further.”