Busselton Shire Council’s “confidential” sessions are being leaked to the local media, it seems. Outgoing shire councillor Bernie Masters wants action taken against councillors he claims leaked information on the confidential item last week that saw shire CEO Andrew Macnish terminate his contract. Cr Hartley told councillors last Wednesday that another confidential item was coming up and if the same thing happened and if similar “rubbish” was in the media again he would be on to it “like a ton of bricks”. He even spelt out the word ‘confidential’, just to get the message across, and said that the Department of Local Government had been informed.
In his urgent motion Cr Masters wants the council to note the publication in last week’s Mail of an article relating to the council meeting on September 9, when it was agreed in confidential session that the employment of Mr Macnish was to be terminated. He also wants it to note that the article contained quotes and references to the confidential session of that meeting, which could only have been provided to the newspaper’s journalist Rob Bennett by a councillor or councillors. As well, he wants the council to express its extreme disappointment that the Mail had chosen to publish information that the council considered to be strictly confidential, and rebuke the councillor or councillors who provided confidential information to the newspaper.
He said such action was contrary to the spirit in which local government and its councillors were expected to conduct themselves and was illegal under the Local Government Act. Cr Masters decided to launch his motion before having read the article in the newspaper. In an email exchange with the Mail before seeking Cr Hartley’s advice, Cr Masters told the Mail that it seemed unable to differentiate between an issue that was of public interest and one that was in the public interest.
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