An ethics committee set up to mete out punishment to Brisbane councillors for inappropriate conduct has not met since early 2021, creating a backlog of complaints.
The bipartisan Brisbane City Council committee was established in 2020 with three LNP councillors, including chair Adam Allan, and three Labor councillors.
The committee was intended to consider penalties for finalised inappropriate conduct complaints referred to the council from the newly minted local government watchdog, the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA).
But it quickly ran into problems due to the council's highly partisan political nature, with LNP councillors holding the deciding vote.
Shortly after the last meeting in May 2021, Labor councillors resigned from the committee, saying it had become a politicised process with "no natural justice".
Since May 2021, the now three-person LNP committee has not sat. The OIA has continued, as per the law, to send upheld inappropriate conduct complaints to the committee.
There are now nine sustained inappropriate conduct complaints waiting for a resolution through the ethics committee, seven against non-LNP councillors.
Inquiry submissions paint picture
Earlier this year, a state parliamentary inquiry into the OIA's effectiveness and functions made multiple recommendations but did not make any specific recommendations for Brisbane City Council's problems.
However, a submission to the inquiry from LNP ethics committee chair Cr Allan said the committee had, "as foreseen", become politicised and LNP councillors on the committee were now seen as "judge, jury and executioner".
"It is my strong recommendation, having closely observed this process, that matters of suspected inappropriate conduct be dealt with externally to council," Cr Allan wrote.
But when contacted by ABC Brisbane this week, Cr Allan in a statement blamed Labor for the ethics committee's inertia, rather than any failure of systems as he had outlined in his parliamentary inquiry.
"Unfortunately, Labor councillors childishly quit Brisbane's ethics committee as soon as one of their colleagues was referred," Cr Allan said.
"Unless Labor councillors grow up and participate as required, we may soon have to consider an alternative approach."
Deputy opposition leader Kara Cook, who had sat on the committee, said the LNP had made no attempt to propose a new model for handling councillor conduct complaints.
"[The LNP] have ultimate power with 20 out of 27 seats and have chosen to take no action in over a year to change the flawed ethics committee model," she said.
Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan, who has had multiple inappropriate conduct complaints levelled against him, said the councillor conduct complaints process was used to "suppress and control councillors who express dissent and challenge the political establishment".
"It's ridiculous to suggest that complaints against a Greens councillor can be impartially investigated by a committee of LNP or Labor politicians," he said.
Cr Johnston likewise said the LNP had failed to carry out its statutory obligations for the past 18 months, while not resolving the ethics committee's conundrum.
