Former Capel Shire president Michael Southwell found in breach of Local Government Act for the 13th time

Former Capel Shire president Michael Southwell was last week found to have breached the Local Government Act for the 13th time. A State Administrative Tribunal hearing last Monday found the ex-leader, who did not re-contest his seat in October, did not declare an “impartiality interest” when moving a motion in January last year when he should have. The SAT found Mr Southwell called a special council meeting on January 8, which was then adjourned to six days later, and moved a motion for an “urgent review” of then-Shire chief executive Ian McCabe’s performance, just five months after he had launched a defamation case against Mr McCabe in the Supreme Court. The chief executive review would otherwise have taken place in July last year, as scheduled. The tribunal, in its published findings this month, found Mr Southwell “had an obligation (under the LGA) to disclose the interest at or before each of the special meetings at which the motions were to be discussed.” “There was a conflictual relationship between (Mr Southwell and Mr McCabe), with proximity between the timing of, nature of, and circumstances giving rise to the defamation proceedings and the subject matter of the motions.” In his defence, which the SAT did not accept, Mr Southwell claimed he did not have an “interest” because the deliberation at the special meeting did not question the chief executive’s performance, but rather only reviewed it. He further stated he did not stand to benefit from the outcome of the performance review and any association he had with Mr McCabe was not associated with the motion to request the review. In finding him in breach of the LGA, the SAT stated Mr Southwell had shown a “lack of insight and remorse.” Mr Southwell had committed 12 previous minor breaches and had received previous sanctions resulting in public apologies, however, the tribunal found the sanctions “have not resulted in him modifying his behaviour” and another public apology was “unlikely to be sufficiently strong to deter future breaches”. The tribunal found there was “no doubt” Mr Southwell’s breach was recurrent and adjourned for a further hearing on December 15.