Fifteen women wore red to Wednesday night's Ballarat council meeting, sitting in silence as Councillor Damon Saunders apologised to Mayor Tracey Hargreaves for misconduct.

It was an apology ordered after a year-long arbitration found he had publicly undermined the mayor, and one attendees called insincere and “the bare legal requirement”. 

What happened? In May, Councillor Saunders was found to have committed misconduct when he announced Mayor Hargreaves’s intention to nominate for mayor.

Cause for concern: While arbiter Dr Meredith Gibbs focused on the alleged misconduct in her investigation, she also found Councillor Saunders’ behaviour during the process had been cause for “concern”, and included comments submitted in his witness statement that called the mayor:

Saunders was disciplined for disclosing the mayoral nomination publicly, but could not be reprimanded for the comments made during the investigation as they required a separate and new arbitration process. 

“I have deep concerns about the way the respondent spoke about councillor Hargreaves during this internal arbitration process. The words… show a high level of disrespect [and] are discourteous and at times demeaning. This is unacceptable behaviour for a Councillor,” wrote Gibbs.

Witnessed: Many high-profile Ballarat women attended the council meeting to witness Saunders’ apology. They each coordinated to wear red. 

What they said: Hepburn Shire Interim CEO Janet Dore was one attendee and spoke during public question time. She asked what action the council would take to ensure there would not be a repeat incident.

The mayor responded that “ultimately, to uphold the role rests with each individual councillor and that’s something the councillors have to do themselves”. 

The apology: Councillor Saunders’ apology came after public question time had concluded. In it, Sanders said: 

The reaction: While Saunders’ apology was legally required, he was not required to address the comments he had made during the arbitration. Multiple women who attended the meeting expected it to be addressed publicly. 

Lynne McLennan, previously CEO of UFS Healthcare, Director of Ambulance Victoria and Central Highlands Water, and current chair of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, organised the show of solidarity. 

🗣️“I think any woman that puts her hand up to do a leadership job should be supported by her colleagues. And the opposite has happened”, she told the Brolga.

“Some of us have been around for a long time and have been fighting this since the 80s, and quite frankly can’t believe we’re still dealing with this now”, she said.

Standing up: Wendy Sturgess, CEO of Child and Family Services Ballarat (CAFS) expressed disappointment other councillors did not comment on the apology in the chamber, or on the comments made by Councillor Saunders on the record. 

🗣️ “I think we need to understand the power and the need for bystanders. Men need to call out other men’s poor behaviour,” she said.

Narelle Laing, CEO of Ballarat & Grampians Community Legal Services, told the Brolga the behaviour “reinforces a culture that makes it okay for there to be violence against women, and that’s the bit that they are missing”. 

What now: Councillor Saunders underwent a two-week suspension following the arbitration process. 

There will be no further consequences or follow-up training required. 

Speaking to the Brolga in a personal capacity and not as a City of Ballarat Councillor, Saunders said: 

“In November last year, on live radio, I was asked if I was running for Mayor or Deputy Mayor. The nominations had already closed.

At the time of the radio interview, I was simply trying to provide as much information to ratepayers as I thought it was appropriate to do so. I was unaware of any Council policy that prevented a Councillor from discussing whether another Councillor had nominated themselves to be Mayor.

I am heartened by the findings that my brief answer was not malicious, that the information I provided was not confidential information and it was not personal information.

I am currently attempting to amend the Council's policy around the nominations, to make it easier to operate under.

This will ensure that there are less innocent mix ups in the future.

Hopefully all Councillors will be able to put this matter behind us now, so that we can all focus on our responsibilities to ratepayers.”