Female councillors face a barrage of gendered abuse and harassment from their council colleagues, politicians and the public, including bullying, verbal abuse and intimidation.
They say the toxic workplace culture inside the federal and NSW parliaments is replicated at a local level and is a disincentive for women to enter local government.
Georges River councillor Sandy Grekas has suffered gender abuse and harassment.Credit:Louise Kennerley
With council elections due in September, independent Georges River councillor Sandy Grekas said the verbal abuse and online harassment she has suffered will continue “and probably get worse”.
“When other women see the rubbish that I’ve gone through, it completely puts them off from running for council,” she said.
North Sydney mayor Jilly Gibson said it was regrettable that local government had so far been left out of the story on the abuse of women. She said she was called a slut, skank and prostitute on a regular basis.
North Sydney mayor Jilly Gibson said it was regrettable that local government had been left out of the story on the abuse of women. Credit:Janie Barrett
“The abuse was so extreme that I twice ended up in hospital with stress-related illnesses,” she said. “The harassment continued by email while I was hospitalised.”
A former councillor Jeff Morris was charged with intimidation after allegedly verbally abusing Cr Gibson on two separate occasions at a restaurant in 2019. He pleaded not guilty to both charges and the case will return to court in June.
Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore said she experienced political harassment and misrepresentation, most commonly from tabloid media and shock jocks such as Alan Jones, who “once put me in the same chaff bag as Julia Gillard, to be thrown out to sea”.
Cr Moore was also depicted as a witch with green skin, boils and a pointed hat which she said was reminiscent of the “Ditch the Witch” sign about Ms Gillard - which former prime minister Tony Abbott was infamously photographed standing beside.
“I have had at times people stalk me outside my house, and after one police security audit, I had panic alarms installed,” Cr Moore said.
City of Sydney Labor councillor Linda Scott - who is also president of the Australian Local Government Association - said a week rarely went by without a councillor calling to share her stories of harassment and intimidation.
Cr Scott said she was devastated to hear stories of abuse of women in local government, but added: “[A]s elected women we have more power and voice than those in other professions to make this stop.”
Fewer than one in three councillors in NSW are women compared to 43 per cent in Victoria.
Researchers found gender abuse and harassment was rife in Victorian councils, with 23 per cent of women councillors had “very often” experienced negative behaviour that affected them personally, compared to 3 per cent of male colleagues.
More than one-quarter of local government workers experienced sexual harassment on the job, Victoria’s auditor-general found in 2020.
Cr Grekas said some male councillors spoke aggressively to and over female councillors and staff, “and there’s no way in the world they would speak that way to men”.
A neighbour’s fence was graffitied with the words “F---in’ Snitch” after a meeting at which Cr Grekas called on two councillors facing corruption allegations to stand aside. A supporter’s car was also vandalised.
Cr Grekas said she had suffered verbal abuse in council meetings and a campaign of online abuse. “There’s been all sorts of nonsense published about me; that I’m a bully, that I’m an alcoholic,” she said.
Fairfield City Labor councillor Sera Yilmaz said she had been subject to name calling, vilification, intimation to vote a certain way in council meetings and threats to her career.
Cr Yilmaz, who is also the secretary of the NSW branch of the Australian Local Government Women’s Association, said the bullying had prompted her to consider whether she should seek re-election.
“Women who have witnessed what I have endured have definitely felt put off by it,” she said.
The harassment of Cr Yilmaz led Fairfield City mayor Frank Carbone to issue a mayoral minute in February 2019 reminding councillors to support each other in their duties.
Cr Carbone said the minute was prompted by an incident between Cr Yilmaz and a state MP that left her feeling intimidated. “All councillors should be able to feel involved in Council events and activities, without feeling harassed and intimidated,” he said.
Fairfield City councillor Sera Yilmaz reconsidered staying in politics because of her treatment. Credit:Wolter Peeters
Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock said it was unacceptable for any woman to feel harassed, abused or bullied. She said the model code of conduct had been strengthened and any councillor found to have breached their obligations, which includes bullying or harassment, faced suspension or disqualification from civic office.
“I am appalled and horrified hearing accounts of abuse,” Ms Hancock said. “This type of behaviour has no place in any council or in society more broadly.”
Andrew Taylor is a Senior Reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
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‘It will probably get worse’: Gendered abuse and harassment rife in local councils - Sydney Morning Herald
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