Northern Midlands ratepayers to have legal costs returned

The Northern Midlands Council's Mayor and General Manager will be forced to pay back to Council what is believed to be hundreds of thousands of dollars used to fight defamation proceedings against Councillor Andrew McCullagh.

A decision handed down yesterday by Acting Justice Marshall in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, also said Cr McCullagh’s costs would have to be covered, likely to be of a similar amount.

In response to the decision, Cr McCullagh has called for Mayor Mary Knowles and General Manager Des Jennings to resign, and for the Department of Local Government and the Premier’s Office to investigate the matter.

“They also need to investigate the Councillors that supported this action,” he said.

Acting Justice Marshall also quashed the decision of October 26, 2020 where all but former councillor Jan Davis voted to fund the Mayor and General Manager’s defence.

“It was from that Council decision, Knowles and Jennings knowingly received a financial advantage that was in contravention of the Local Government Act 1993 and continued to receive such until the new Council (elected 2022) stopped such just a few months ago,” Cr McCullagh said.

“The decision demonstrates unequivocally that they are unfit and improper to hold their respective offices from this point on.

“I will be seeking the resignation of both Knowles and Jennings and should this not occur, will be placing a No Confidence motion before Council for their consideration.”

Cr McCullagh has also blamed the Rockliff government’s involvement and its “usual head-in-the-sand, lazy approach” in letting the breach occur.

Around this time last year Cr McCullagh also called for the Mayor and Deputy Mary Janet Lambert to resign, claiming they improperly spent ratepayers’ money seeking legal advice on a code of conduct complaint against him.

Cr McCullagh has had multiple clashes with the Northern Midlands Council prior to his election and since, dividing the loyalties of councillors and contributing to the recent independent review of the council’s operations (full story in today’s Northern Courier Newspaper).

While the Mayor and General Manager were unavailable for comment today, Deputy Mayor Janet Lambert spoke on behalf of the Northern Midlands Council in acknowledging and accepting the decision of the Supreme Court saying they would “act accordingly”.