Misconduct findings against Cr Lance Hewlett and former councillor Paul Gleeson

Queensland’s Councillor Conduct Tribunal has, in separate recent decisions, found that misconduct was engaged in by both of Cr Lance Hewlett and former Redland City councillor Mr Paul Gleeson.

Mr Gleeson has been fined a total of $5,514 for three counts of misconduct with the Tribunal noting that his “lengthy misconduct history is a significant aggravating factor”.

Two of Mr Gleeson’s misconduct findings relate to his social media behaviour and the third matter is his failure to to make an admission of misconduct as required by a previous order of the Tribunal.

Cr Hewlett has been ordered to make an admission at a Council meeting that he engaged in misconduct. He must also attend training or counselling at his own expense on how to address his misconduct.

The findings of misconduct by Cr Hewlett relate to his failures to keep his register of interests up to date and his failure to declare certain interests at council meetings.

In its reasoning the Tribunal found that Cr Hewlett had no prior misconduct history and has no other aggravating factors relevant to penalty.

These recent findings by the Tribunal relate to conduct during the 2016-2020 council term.

Paul Gleeson – misconduct findings

Two of the misconduct findings against former councillor Gleeson relate to comments he made on social media in 2019 using his personal Facebook page.

The Tribunal found in each case that Mr Gleeson did not comply with the responsibility of a councillor to provide “high quality leadership to the local government and the community”.

The third finding of misconduct by former councillor Gleeson is that he he did not comply with the Tribunal’s order made on 19 December 2019 (regarding an earlier finding of misconduct) that he make a public admission that he had engaged in misconduct, by 19 March 2020.

The Tribunal’s decision includes the following statements:

Had the Councillor still been serving on the Council the Tribunal would have considered whether it would be appropriate to recommend to the Minister that the Councillor be suspended for a period of time under section 150AR(1)(b)(xi) of the Act.

The Tribunal’s concluding comment is:

The Respondent’s poor conduct and lengthy history of proceedings before this Tribunal and its predecessors warrants a sanction at the higher end of the spectrum, consisting of both reprimands as well as pecuniary penalties to protect the integrity of the local government system that the Respondent was once part of.

A summary of the Tribunal’s decisions and reasons is published by the Local Government Department.

Lance Hewlett – misconduct findings

The findings of misconduct by Cr Hewlett related to the operation of a not-for-profit organisation known as the Redlands Community Breakfast which the Tribunal noted was “of significant benefit and interest to the local community”.

Two of the misconduct findings against Cr Hewlett relate to his failure to keep up to date his register of interests and a register of related party interests with regard to a bank account used for numerous small donations.

The other two findings of misconduct were that Cr Hewlett participated in Council decisions without disclosing his association with the Redland Community Breakfast, which had received donations from the same party (Shoreline) whose applications Council was deciding.

The Tribunal decided to make orders that Cr Hewlett attend training or counselling and make an admission of misconduct having regard to three mitigating factors:

a. The Respondent’s actions in running a philanthropic organisation such as the Redland Community Breakfast was to be commended. The Tribunal received evidence that the efforts of Councillor Hewlett made a significant difference to the local community;
b. The Respondent evidenced no intention to defraud any person, nor was there any evidence at all that he or his related party had engaged in any deliberate attempts to conceal their interests;
c. The Respondent eventually disclosed his material interest in the bank account for the Breakfast.

The Tribunal has stipulated that Cr Hewlett’s admissions of misconduct must make reference to the fact that he was Deputy Mayor at the time of the misconduct.

A summary of the Tribunal’s decisions and reasons is published by the Local Government Department.

Review of Queensland’s councillor complaints process

Queensland’s councillor complaints process and in particular the performance of the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA) is being investigated by a committee of the Queensland Parliament.

This inquiry commenced on 27 October 2021 following a request from Local Government minister and Deputy Premier Steven Miles.

The Committee has received submissions and held several hearings in various parts of Queensland.

Many people making submissions to this Inquiry raised concerns about the length of time taken to deal with complaints about the conduct of local councillors.

	Lance Hewlett	Paul Gleeson
Date of complaint	3 June 2020	*
Date of Decision by Tribunal	12 May 2022	17 May 2022

* This decision by the Tribunal has not yet been listed in Redland City Council’s Councillor Conduct Register for the year July 2021 – June 2022.

Redlands2030 – 21 June 2022