A quarter of the Barkly Regional Council resigned in two days last week, with one councillor saying he probably would not have resigned if mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin had resigned from his position once he was charged with drug offences, while the mayor said the departures were not a vote of no confidence in either him or the chief executive officer.
The mayor also used an ABC Alice Springs radio interview with Stewart Brash on Friday to crticise unnamed people who he said were treating him and other unnamed people in the council badly, and undermining them.
In late September, the ABC reported there had been a “flood of resignations amid allegations of bullying and mismanagement”, but wrote Mr McLaughlin and chief executive officer Emma Bradbury said the complaints were the “venting” of a “small group of disgruntled ex-employees”.
Ms Bradbury confirmed to the NT Independent on Thursday Alyawarr Ward’s Noel Hayes and Derek Walker, and Patta Ward’s Hal Ruger all tendered their resignations. She said Mr Hayes and Mr Walker cited personal reasons, and Mr Ruger did not give a reason, and she could not speak for them as to why they resigned.
On Friday on radio Mr McLaughlin confirmed Patta Ward’s Ronald Plummer had also given him a letter of resignation but he not had a chance to open the letter to read the reasons given because he had just arrived at work.
On the resignations, Mr McLaughlin said there “needed to be a bit of context” and “people were going a little bit crazy on the internet”, pointing out Mr Ruger gave the reason of moving out of the area for his resignation. Although Mr Ruger has not said on the public record why he had resigned. Mr McLaughlin said the other two councillors had written resignation letters which gave no reasons for their departures.
The council website says Mr Hayes had been on council since 2017, Mr Walker since 2021, and Mr Ruger since 2004. The NT Independent was unable to contact the three councillors.
Mr Hayes was interviewed on the radio before Mr McLaughlin, and said he had resigned because he felt his ward was being disrespected by the council, and that there was a lack of services to his ward because of staff not being replaced.
“They haven’t got any staff to look after people in the bush, and, and, it’s very, you know, well it’s terrible,” he said.
“In other words, you know, the team went down the drain, you know, just went down and down and, and, just the people in the at bush are suffering. The communities that is.
“…now we don’t hate these people but they get paid you know, to do what, they get paid a lot of money to do their top jobs, you know, they’re supposed to look after people…we have feelings.
“I was told by the manager here, he had a look on his Facebook…and there’s a lot of people making comments, you know that they agree with us, and are happy, you know, that we made the move, to move away from the council. So we have support there.”
He was asked by the host Mr Brash what he thought would have made the biggest difference to have prevented him from resigning.
“Well, I’ll be honest with you….I think if the mayor would of, you know, after he got caught, and went for the first court case, had resigned…I probably would have been still there,” he said.
“You know, like I said, we got feelings.”
Mr McLaughlin returned to the role of mayor following the granting of personal leave from councillors after he was allegedly caught under the influence of drugs in late September.
He was not forced to stand down by the council after he was charged by NT Police for driving under the influence of drugs, supplying less than a commercial quantity of a schedule 2 drug, possessing less than a traffickable quantity of a schedule 2 drug, and cultivating less than a traffickable quantity of a prohibited plant.
That matter is currently before the courts.
When asked whether Mr Hayes’s concerns, which including him wanting the mayor to resign, warranted Mr Hayes resigning Mr McLaughlin said: “I can’t talk about people’s own decisions.
“I do care about people’s reasons, and some people do have personal reasons as well. And I am not going into each councillor’s personal reasons why they are leaving, there’s multiple, there’s a complexity going on here as well in the communities.”
Mr McLaughlin said he could not apologise for something he had not been convicted of, and that he “believed I am innocent over”.
“We’re also very frustrated in the way that we’ve been treated as well, from numerous parties, numerous undermingings within our organisation. We just want to get to work in the bush, we want to get getting things done,” he said.
He was asked by the host if he though the departure of the councillors was a vote of no confidence in him or the council in general.
“I have not received or tabled a vote of no confidence. I received two letters yesterday from councilor Hayes and councilor Walker. It was just that ‘we resign’,” he said
“There was no reasons written in that letter. It was just a two sentence line that said ‘we resign’. I can’t hold a gun to people’s heads and say they have to stay on.”
Mr Brash said he did not know of a situation where there was a similar mass resignation from a council in the last 25 years in the Northern Territory.
“So you’re not surprised or curious that this is, or is not, a vote on no confidence in your council,” he asked.
“Once again have not received a vote of no confidence,” Mr McLaughlin said.
“Okay, what signal do you take away from four people resigning in one day?” he was asked.
“I’m actually trying to work this over and deal with it. I’ve never had this happen either, you know. I am. I am. I am a bit shocked. You know, we’re all human,” Mr McLaughlin said.
He said he had confidence in Ms Bradbury and the council did as well.
Mr McLaughlin said he had not spoken to other councillors about his drug charges at meetings because he said it had nothing to do with council.
Ms Bradbury had earlier told the Tennant Creek and District Times at the time: “The charges are a private matter and unrelated to his role as mayor so it is inappropriate for council or councillors to comment on the matter”.
However, several sources told the NT Independent he was driving a council car when pulled over by police for the drug test, and it was during work hours.
Council did not respond to questions about the mayor driving a council vehicle at the time.
When asked about whether he agreed with Mr Hayes that the Barkly Regional Council was falling the bush, Mr McLaughlin said they were trying their best to help the bush but he agreed with Mr Hayes.
Mr Hayes was the chair of a council business processes review committee which is to receive a report from Melbourne’s Justitia Lawyers, which was engaged by council to review it’s “people systems” and “business possesses”, due to the allegations of bullying and mismanagement.
He said in a communication with staff when it was announced, the review was being undertaken because of a “number of changes and staffing matters which have attracted negative media attention”.
Before the review was announced the ABC reported Mr McLaughlin had said he had worked the Chief Minister and Cabinet Department and the Local Government Association of the Northern Territory, who have reviewed staff complaints.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct a naming error. Emma Bradbury was previously referred to as Emma Bradshaw. The NT Independent aplogises for the error.
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