Darwin Mayor Kon Vatskalis has banned councillor Amye Un from all council premises in an extraordinary move related to his ongoing feud with Ms Un, who drew the ire of the Mayor for publicly criticising the Fyles Labor Government giving a $100,000 grant to a former alderman who is up on charges.
Ms Un was issued a “trespass notice” signed by the city’s head of security on Tuesday morning, in which he claimed that her “attendance at City of Darwin buildings and facilities may pose an unacceptable risk to the health, safety and wellbeing of our workers”.
The ban specifically forbids the Lyons Ward councillor from attending council meetings in person that she was elected to attend on behalf of her constituents.
Head security guard Reece Ravlich also banned Ms Un from setting foot in all of Darwin’s libraries.
“Your electronic swipe access will be deactivated while this trespass notice is in effect,” he wrote.
A visibly upset Ms Un told the NT Independent she was seeking legal advice and would continue to stand up for her rights.
“This is bullying. What the hell is going on here?” she said.
“This is nonsense and bullying and they bury themselves with this. So, I never stop. I’ll keep going because I stand up for all the person get bullying by hand of bureaucrats.
“This is dictatorship. We live in a democratic country, no live in a communist country. And this one, we have to stop.”
Ms Un had previously accused Mr Vatskalis and council chief executive Simone Saunders of bullying and intimidating her in relation to two incidents; their reaction to the Facebook post criticising the government for awarding former alderman Paul Arnold a $100,000 small business grant after he was slapped with a domestic violence order and another incident in which Mr Vatskalis formally reprimanded her for speaking to Timor Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta when he was in town last September.
Mr Vatskalis had claimed Mr Ramos-Horta had sent him a complaint about Ms Un but has repeatedly failed to produce it.
Ms Un was sent a letter from Ms Saunders last week informing her she was allegedly in breach of council’s code of conduct and instructing her to remove the Facebook post in which Ms Un suggested that the small business grant to Mr Arnold should have been broken into smaller grants for more small business owners who are struggling. Mr Arnold resigned from council in May and is currently before the courts on a number of charges. He has maintained his innocence.
Mr Vatskalis had claimed that Ms Un had violated the code of conduct, suggesting she had a conflict of interest and had sought to solicit a grant when she sarcastically suggested in the Facebook post that she would befriend Small Business Minister Paul Kirby so she could get a grant for her business.
“Now on I like to make friends with Mr Paul Kirby and other ZOMBIES, so I can get the Grand to [sic],” she wrote.
Mr Vatskalis initially escalated his feud with Ms Un on Friday when he sent a formal complaint to the Local Government Association of the NT (LGANT) alleging Ms Un was the bully, had violated the code of conduct and had threatened Ms Saunders by demanding she resign and writing on Facebook in another post: “you stab me in the back, I stab you in the front”.
The trespass notice from Mr Ravlich referenced the “stab” comment.
“I believe that you intended this sentence to be a direct threat to stab the City of Darwin Chief Executive Officer,” he wrote.
Mr Ravlich also referenced another Facebook post by Ms Un on August 19, that mentioned the code of conduct allegations, in which Ms Un wrote, “They preparing to take me to LGANT tribunal because my innocent, honesty, respect and integrity [sic]… Remember when you sent a soldier to war, of course everything already be preparing [sic]. GUN ALREADY FULL UP WITH BULLETS”.
“I believe that you intended the reference and quoted sentence to be an indirect threat to harm City of Darwin workers,” Mr Ravlich wrote to Ms Un on Tuesday.
He concluded the letter stating that the trespass notice will be reviewed in three months.
Ms Un has repeatedly denied the accusations and said the actions taken by Mr Vatskalis and Ms Saunders against her were attempts to “intimidate me so I shut up”.
She said the gun and bullets comment was a figure of speech to indicate she was ready to defend herself with facts at the LGANT hearing.
Ms Un had called council a “toxic workplace” and said she would continue to stand up to Mr Vatskalis.
Truly communist like behaviour by the City of Darwin and Kon. I wonder where Kon got the idea for this communist-like action?
Twist words like the well known metaphorical phrase “stab them in the back” to mean a physical threat when they clearly know there is none.
Disgusting behaviour by the Labor crony, Kon.
All this because he is trying to protect the NT Labor party from valid criticism? Well I think maybe he has some skeletons in his closet that he is also trying to keep from becoming public.
Whilst I hate how she is being treated, that lady needs to shut up, she is making her own problems.
Go up to your own co-worker and say “GUN ALREADY FULL UP WITH BULLETS”, see what happens!
“GUN ALREADY FULL UP WITH BULLETS” meaning the outcome is already assured.
Everyone can see there are no threats here at all.
Anyone who tells Amy’s to shut up does not respect her integrity & courage by standing up to the powerful ALP operative who engages with the CCP under the One Belt One Road Initiate; Darwin feels like a gulag where public servants covet power & citizens act like sheep for fear of retribution.
Jane, I understand she has every right to say whatever she wants, but do you agree HOW she communicates and the degree of comprehension, is not helping her cause one iota.
As a rate payer I am not happy with the quality of the Mayor or the aldermen/alderpersons as well as the ever increasing Rates and exponentially increasing fees at the tip?
I wonder if City of Darwin axed its Junket Program called Sister cities, if that would reduce the rates!
I did and he cracked up knowing that there was no real threat.
I respect Amye UN for being prepared to speak up. Kon is just aggravating the the situation and behaving like an idiot. If he was a professional administrator in his job this would not have come to this stage. The council is being run like territory Labor where anyone that speaks up gets punished.
Kon is no manager, if he was he would never allow the staff to comment on elected members, he must resign.
A mob of kids in the playground would have more brains. Get back to doing your elected job of roads, rates and rubbish and at least try to act like grown ups. All three issues need serious attention.
Seriously this is bad. If we allow our council to behave like dictators we deserve the absolute Kon the flog dribble. I dont know how but this council really needs to be advised by the public that censorship is not on.
God I miss George!
Hey Kon, when you find yourself in a hole stop digging you fool!!