Latest news with #AndrewThaler
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Serial pest' suspended from council. Again.
Andrew Thaler, the infamous 'serial pest' of Cooma, is just a few more nasty social media posts away from being booted off Snowy Monaro Regional Council for the next five years, after receiving a second three-month suspension. Thaler, a bloke in desperate need of a hobby, has a history of relentless harassment of (mostly female) elected officials and local businesses, often targeted in crude, rambling Facebook posts and YouTube livestreams. Despite being banned from the council chambers after a series of abusive tirades against officials, Thaler, a serial political candidate, scraped in at last year's local government elections. He was subsequently suspended from the council by the Office of Local Government (OLG) over abusive social media posts, including one calling a fellow councillor a 'fat dumb blonde' and a 'nasty liar'. Thaler appealed that decision to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, where he was represented by former Labor MP Adam Searle, who's seemingly become the Saul Goodman of bizarre local government snafus, last seen by CBD representing former Liberal MP John Ajaka at an inquiry into Liverpool council. Loading When that suspension was upheld this month, Thaler launched into yet another social media tirade, declaring that 'my crime is being a man' and accusing the council of being 'broken' and 'run by liars'. This week, he was suspended again for misconduct by the OLG over a series of Facebook posts and videos made back in March, including one which referred to a fellow councillor as a 'mad honking goose'. It's strike two for Thaler, who will be barred from serving in local government for five years if suspended for a third time.
The Age
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Age
‘Serial pest' suspended from council. Again.
Andrew Thaler, the infamous 'serial pest' of Cooma, is just a few more nasty social media posts away from being booted off Snowy Monaro Regional Council for the next five years, after receiving a second three-month suspension. Thaler, a bloke in desperate need of a hobby, has a history of relentless harassment of (mostly female) elected officials and local businesses, often targeted in crude, rambling Facebook posts and YouTube livestreams. Despite being banned from the council chambers after a series of abusive tirades against officials, Thaler, a serial political candidate, scraped in at last year's local government elections. He was subsequently suspended from the council by the Office of Local Government (OLG) over abusive social media posts, including one calling a fellow councillor a 'fat dumb blonde' and a 'nasty liar'. Thaler appealed that decision to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, where he was represented by former Labor MP Adam Searle, who's seemingly become the Saul Goodman of bizarre local government snafus, last seen by CBD representing former Liberal MP John Ajaka at an inquiry into Liverpool council. Loading When that suspension was upheld this month, Thaler launched into yet another social media tirade, declaring that 'my crime is being a man' and accusing the council of being 'broken' and 'run by liars'. This week, he was suspended again for misconduct by the OLG over a series of Facebook posts and videos made back in March, including one which referred to a fellow councillor as a 'mad honking goose'. It's strike two for Thaler, who will be barred from serving in local government for five years if suspended for a third time.
Sydney Morning Herald
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
This serial pest called a woman a ‘fat dumb blonde'. He says he was being picked on
Andrew Thaler knew he was wrong to call a fellow Snowy Monaro councillor a fat liar, and for publicly arguing that if a non-binary council employee couldn't work out their gender – 'know whether it's a boy or girl', as he put it – they wouldn't be able to do their job, his barrister, the former Labor MP Adam Searle, told a tribunal this week. Thaler himself was less emphatic about his regret. 'It's hard to express remorse for telling the truth,' he said under cross-examination, arguing his 'robust' language was self-defence. He argued he was not speaking as a councillor, but he was merely quoting himself from a pre-election article in this masthead when he described fellow councillor Tanya Higgins as a 'fat dumb blonde, it's physically obvious'. Thaler also doubled down on his view that the staff member was a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hire, invoking a Trumpian term. He also said his use of the pronoun 'it' did not necessarily dehumanise them, but rather highlighted their internal conflict. In fact, Thaler said, he was the one being picked on. He told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), as it considered his appeal against a three-month suspension, that some of his fellow councillors had been hostile ever since his election last year, when they tried and failed to uphold a longstanding ban on his presence in council chambers (which arose from the risk council felt his behaviour posed to its staff; his election to the council in September automatically overturned the ban). But he thinks they dislike him 'because I'm a man', he told the tribunal. 'It's because I have five kids. It's because I've been married for 19 years … those are the things that [people are hostile about] at that council.' The drawn-out saga over Thaler's behaviour has gripped the Snowy Monaro region, where he was known as a serial pest before being elected to public office with little more than 100 first preference votes. His behaviour while a councillor has prompted the minister to issue a performance improvement order to the council, that says the drama is interfering with the operations of local government. His comments about the councillor and staffer in March earned him a three-month suspension, the maximum, from the Office of Local Government (OLG). But the Snowy's controversy is the pointy end of a bigger issue. Councillors are behaving badly across the state, yet the NSW system for holding them accountable is broken. This has been openly acknowledged across the sector for at least 10 years, but there has been no reform. A government discussion paper last year laid out the problem. Council debates are 'too often personal slanging matches', it said. Frivolous complaints clog the system, leaving little capacity for it to deal with serious issues. The system for handling misconduct should not be so unwieldy and ineffective that it inhibits 'the operation and function of local democracy'. Councils manage their own complaints (which can lead to politicisation), but can refer them to the OLG if they think it's warranted. In the financial year to June 2024, Bathurst clocked up the most complaints with 38 (none were upheld), followed by Lismore with 24 (none were upheld) and Sutherland with 23 (again, none were upheld). Of a total of 381 complaints, only 45 were found to constitute a breach. They cost almost $1.5 million to investigate. There were also concerns from the sector that penalties for councillor misconduct, when upheld, are too light. The maximum suspension the OLG can hand out is three months, while NCAT can issue a disqualification of up to five years. A 2022 report found the sector was concerned that the sanctions, and the OCG and NCAT's reluctance to invoke strong ones, was an ineffective deterrent to poor conduct. That earlier report, commissioned by the Coalition government, raised myriad problems with the system, ranging from conflicts of interest, partisan behaviour, incompetence, and the lack of appropriate penalties when misconduct was found. 'Key stakeholders in the sector have lost confidence in the current arrangements,' it found, and called for an overhaul. A road map for change went to cabinet in February 2023, just before the election. But when Labor won, the new local government minister, Ron Hoenig, jettisoned that plan and began his own review. Another discussion paper was released in September last year. There's not enough dignity in local government, it said, and proposed letting the OLG issue fines to councillors, suggested a privileges committee of experienced mayors examine allegations of misbehaviour, and said bans should be solely imposed by tribunals such as NCAT (they often end up there on appeal, anyway). It also proposes councillors have to rid themselves of real estate and development business activity and contracts. A spokeswoman for Hoenig said the Labor government felt the Coalition's solution would add more bureaucracy and complexity 'to an already broken system'. A new code of conduct, mechanisms to 'surcharge' councillors for frivolous complaints and a new meeting code would be released 'soon', she said. The behaviour problem is putting people – particularly women – off running for local government. A Victorian survey found 61 per cent of female local councillor respondents had experienced threatening or intimidating behaviour from fellow councillors, while another study found half of women left council after the first term. Women have been among Thaler's most frequent targets; he has called female elected officials dumb, fat, a pig, deliberately childless, a horrendous excuse for a human, and has told a state MP – and, on a separate occasion, this reporter – to go 'suck a dick'. Licia Heath from Women for Election said women were increasingly leaving councils due to bullying and harassment. 'We will shortly have a crisis of representation in local government,' she said. That will affect other levels, as state and federal MPs often cut their teeth in council. 'I'm getting increasingly concerned that there will be a pipeline issue of talented women in our state and federal parliaments, unless relevant ministers insist now on a similar review as the Kate Jenkins Set the Standard to be conducted at the local government level,' Heath said referring to a report by the former sex discrimination commissioner. Thaler is right that there are people in the area who don't like him. Before he was elected, he'd been banned from council chambers because his behaviour was considered a workplace health and safety risk. He'd also been banned from a few businesses. He was the subject of 19 complaints over a two-month period last year, the performance improvement order said; complainants alleged his behaviour left staff and fellow councillors feeling unsafe, anxious and in one case, physically sick (Thaler said he was never given a chance to respond, and those complaints have not been investigated). Loading He told the tribunal that the council had sought legal advice about what to do with him, which said it could not ban him but they could 'discipline me out of council'. In his appeal against his suspension on Tuesday, Thaler's barrister, Searle, argued the decision made by the Planning Department deputy secretary responsible for local government was invalid because he had not conducted a proper investigation first. He also said a three-month suspension was too harsh. 'We would say the applicant would say not much weight should be given to those incidences, they occur in the context of Councillor Thaler raising significant matters of public interest,' he said. Thaler insisted he was telling the truth when he used the word liar, despite not being able to produce evidence, but admitted he should not have referred to the councillor's size. However, the barrister for the Department of Planning, Matthew McAuliffe, said the penalty would be a deterrent to both Thaler and councillors statewide. 'He was barely able to accept that what he had done amounted to misconduct,' McAuliffe said. 'Each time I asked him whether he was remorseful it was heavily qualified, if at all. Any offer to apologise was only forthcoming if there was an order to do so. It's clear that despite the passage of time, he continues to believe that his conduct was justified.' The tribunal is considering its decision.
The Age
27-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
This serial pest called a woman a ‘fat dumb blonde'. He says he was being picked on
Andrew Thaler knew he was wrong to call a fellow Snowy Monaro councillor a fat liar, and for publicly arguing that if a non-binary council employee couldn't work out their gender – 'know whether it's a boy or girl', as he put it – they wouldn't be able to do their job, his barrister, the former Labor MP Adam Searle, told a tribunal this week. Thaler himself was less emphatic about his regret. 'It's hard to express remorse for telling the truth,' he said under cross-examination, arguing his 'robust' language was self-defence. He argued he was not speaking as a councillor, but he was merely quoting himself from a pre-election article in this masthead when he described fellow councillor Tanya Higgins as a 'fat dumb blonde, it's physically obvious'. Thaler also doubled down on his view that the staff member was a DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hire, invoking a Trumpian term. He also said his use of the pronoun 'it' did not necessarily dehumanise them, but rather highlighted their internal conflict. In fact, Thaler said, he was the one being picked on. He told the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), as it considered his appeal against a three-month suspension, that some of his fellow councillors had been hostile ever since his election last year, when they tried and failed to uphold a longstanding ban on his presence in council chambers (which arose from the risk council felt his behaviour posed to its staff; his election to the council in September automatically overturned the ban). But he thinks they dislike him 'because I'm a man', he told the tribunal. 'It's because I have five kids. It's because I've been married for 19 years … those are the things that [people are hostile about] at that council.' The drawn-out saga over Thaler's behaviour has gripped the Snowy Monaro region, where he was known as a serial pest before being elected to public office with little more than 100 first preference votes. His behaviour while a councillor has prompted the minister to issue a performance improvement order to the council, that says the drama is interfering with the operations of local government. His comments about the councillor and staffer in March earned him a three-month suspension, the maximum, from the Office of Local Government (OLG). But the Snowy's controversy is the pointy end of a bigger issue. Councillors are behaving badly across the state, yet the NSW system for holding them accountable is broken. This has been openly acknowledged across the sector for at least 10 years, but there has been no reform. A government discussion paper last year laid out the problem. Council debates are 'too often personal slanging matches', it said. Frivolous complaints clog the system, leaving little capacity for it to deal with serious issues. The system for handling misconduct should not be so unwieldy and ineffective that it inhibits 'the operation and function of local democracy'. Councils manage their own complaints (which can lead to politicisation), but can refer them to the OLG if they think it's warranted. In the financial year to June 2024, Bathurst clocked up the most complaints with 38 (none were upheld), followed by Lismore with 24 (none were upheld) and Sutherland with 23 (again, none were upheld). Of a total of 381 complaints, only 45 were found to constitute a breach. They cost almost $1.5 million to investigate. There were also concerns from the sector that penalties for councillor misconduct, when upheld, are too light. The maximum suspension the OLG can hand out is three months, while NCAT can issue a disqualification of up to five years. A 2022 report found the sector was concerned that the sanctions, and the OCG and NCAT's reluctance to invoke strong ones, was an ineffective deterrent to poor conduct. That earlier report, commissioned by the Coalition government, raised myriad problems with the system, ranging from conflicts of interest, partisan behaviour, incompetence, and the lack of appropriate penalties when misconduct was found. 'Key stakeholders in the sector have lost confidence in the current arrangements,' it found, and called for an overhaul. A road map for change went to cabinet in February 2023, just before the election. But when Labor won, the new local government minister, Ron Hoenig, jettisoned that plan and began his own review. Another discussion paper was released in September last year. There's not enough dignity in local government, it said, and proposed letting the OLG issue fines to councillors, suggested a privileges committee of experienced mayors examine allegations of misbehaviour, and said bans should be solely imposed by tribunals such as NCAT (they often end up there on appeal, anyway). It also proposes councillors have to rid themselves of real estate and development business activity and contracts. A spokeswoman for Hoenig said the Labor government felt the Coalition's solution would add more bureaucracy and complexity 'to an already broken system'. A new code of conduct, mechanisms to 'surcharge' councillors for frivolous complaints and a new meeting code would be released 'soon', she said. The behaviour problem is putting people – particularly women – off running for local government. A Victorian survey found 61 per cent of female local councillor respondents had experienced threatening or intimidating behaviour from fellow councillors, while another study found half of women left council after the first term. Women have been among Thaler's most frequent targets; he has called female elected officials dumb, fat, a pig, deliberately childless, a horrendous excuse for a human, and has told a state MP – and, on a separate occasion, this reporter – to go 'suck a dick'. Licia Heath from Women for Election said women were increasingly leaving councils due to bullying and harassment. 'We will shortly have a crisis of representation in local government,' she said. That will affect other levels, as state and federal MPs often cut their teeth in council. 'I'm getting increasingly concerned that there will be a pipeline issue of talented women in our state and federal parliaments, unless relevant ministers insist now on a similar review as the Kate Jenkins Set the Standard to be conducted at the local government level,' Heath said referring to a report by the former sex discrimination commissioner. Thaler is right that there are people in the area who don't like him. Before he was elected, he'd been banned from council chambers because his behaviour was considered a workplace health and safety risk. He'd also been banned from a few businesses. He was the subject of 19 complaints over a two-month period last year, the performance improvement order said; complainants alleged his behaviour left staff and fellow councillors feeling unsafe, anxious and in one case, physically sick (Thaler said he was never given a chance to respond, and those complaints have not been investigated). Loading He told the tribunal that the council had sought legal advice about what to do with him, which said it could not ban him but they could 'discipline me out of council'. In his appeal against his suspension on Tuesday, Thaler's barrister, Searle, argued the decision made by the Planning Department deputy secretary responsible for local government was invalid because he had not conducted a proper investigation first. He also said a three-month suspension was too harsh. 'We would say the applicant would say not much weight should be given to those incidences, they occur in the context of Councillor Thaler raising significant matters of public interest,' he said. Thaler insisted he was telling the truth when he used the word liar, despite not being able to produce evidence, but admitted he should not have referred to the councillor's size. However, the barrister for the Department of Planning, Matthew McAuliffe, said the penalty would be a deterrent to both Thaler and councillors statewide. 'He was barely able to accept that what he had done amounted to misconduct,' McAuliffe said. 'Each time I asked him whether he was remorseful it was heavily qualified, if at all. Any offer to apologise was only forthcoming if there was an order to do so. It's clear that despite the passage of time, he continues to believe that his conduct was justified.' The tribunal is considering its decision.
ABC News
01-06-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Alasdair McDonald
Forest ecologist Professor David Lindenmayer says the shock discovery of critically endangered Leadbeater's possum is likely a new subspecies. 2h ago 2 hours ago Sun 1 Jun 2025 at 7:57am The Australian Workers Union says it is looking at legal action over claims Snowy 2.0 workers were locked down during this week's strike action. Fri 23 May Fri 23 May Fri 23 May 2025 at 5:43am The family of Canberra man Harri Jokinen, who was killed during a high-speed police pursuit on the Monaro Highway in 2021, hopes an inquest into his death will lead to a change in policy. Fri 16 May Fri 16 May Fri 16 May 2025 at 5:24am Snowy Mountains councillor Andrew Thaler has been ordered to apologise for alleged misconduct. He says he has been denied the presumption of innocence. Tue 6 May Tue 6 May Tue 6 May 2025 at 9:42am NSW government reviews Snowy Mountain councillor Andrew Thaler's behaviour after his colleagues accuse him of poor conduct. Thu 20 Mar Thu 20 Mar Thu 20 Mar 2025 at 12:47am The 34-year-old's body was found south of Eden after a three-day search by emergency services. Mon 10 Mar Mon 10 Mar Mon 10 Mar 2025 at 6:10am Senior Constable Brett David Lindsay will face two separate court hearings for six assault charges relating to alleged incidents while he was on duty on the NSW Far South Coast. Mon 17 Feb Mon 17 Feb Mon 17 Feb 2025 at 9:49pm Missing hiker Hadi Nazari left a trail of clues, but trying to find him in some of the most rugged terrain in NSW was still hard work. Thu 9 Jan Thu 9 Jan Thu 9 Jan 2025 at 7:20am The family of Hadi Nazari, missing in the NSW Snowy Mountains for over a week, is calling for resources from Victoria to be called in to help find the 23-year-old. Fri 3 Jan Fri 3 Jan Fri 3 Jan 2025 at 9:45pm As the search for Hadi Nazari continues in Kosciuszko National Park, the man's friends say they have been given hope by the discovery of some of his possessions in the rugged NSW Snowy Mountains. Thu 2 Jan Thu 2 Jan Thu 2 Jan 2025 at 6:30am Sailor Luke Watkins spent 45 minutes in the water after he was thrown overboard during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race early on Friday morning. He says his safety training and quick thinking from his crew saved his life. Fri 27 Dec Fri 27 Dec Fri 27 Dec 2024 at 5:22pm Hundreds of cases of flesh-eating Buruli ulcer have been reported in Victoria this year, a new study has named a NSW tourist town as the next potential hotspot and has warned of possible spread along NSW coastline Fri 20 Dec Fri 20 Dec Fri 20 Dec 2024 at 9:20pm A high school on the NSW far south coast has closed today after two cleaners found a staff room alight early this morning. The cleaners suffered smoke inhalation, and an investigation into the fire is underway. Wed 4 Dec Wed 4 Dec Wed 4 Dec 2024 at 6:15am Senior Constable Brett David Lindsay pleads not guilty to six assault charges relating to alleged incidents while he was on duty on the NSW far south coast. Mon 25 Nov Mon 25 Nov Mon 25 Nov 2024 at 3:01am A police officer is suspended with pay over the charges, which stem from an incident at a Batemans Bay shopping centre. Fri 8 Nov Fri 8 Nov Fri 8 Nov 2024 at 1:25am Iain Dawson has pleaded guilty to transferring $34,000 of art gallery funds into his own bank account. Wed 16 Oct Wed 16 Oct Wed 16 Oct 2024 at 7:15am Senior Constable Kristian White will face a jury trial in November after he pleaded not guilty over the death of the great-grandmother who was tasered in a Snowy Mountains nursing home in 2023. Wed 16 Oct Wed 16 Oct Wed 16 Oct 2024 at 6:18am Robert Karl Huber has pleaded not guilty to murdering his partner Lindy Lucena, 64, in a Ballina laneway in January 2023. He will face trial later this year. Fri 11 Oct Fri 11 Oct Fri 11 Oct 2024 at 5:01am The Walbunja people of the NSW far south coast have been handed back an important piece of their culture, once owned by the late environmental activist, academic and philosopher Val Plumwood. Mon 23 Sep Mon 23 Sep Mon 23 Sep 2024 at 8:33pm Kristian White is set face trial in NSW Supreme Court on one count of manslaughter after the death of 95-year-old Clare Nowland. Wed 11 Sep Wed 11 Sep Wed 11 Sep 2024 at 3:30am These First Nations students are the traditional people of the New South Wales Snowy Mountains, yet some of them had never set foot on snow before. Sun 8 Sep Sun 8 Sep Sun 8 Sep 2024 at 6:40am A hydrologist says the Snowy 2.0 pumped-hydro scheme will be more resilient to climate change than its predecessor but predicted extreme droughts will cause issues. Thu 5 Sep Thu 5 Sep Thu 5 Sep 2024 at 4:45am The snow season at Charlotte Pass could be under threat after a devastating fire, as its owners meet with the State Government to help plan their recovery. Thu 23 May Thu 23 May Thu 23 May 2024 at 4:21am After 55 years growing oysters, Bernie Connell and his oyster "Jill" look set to break world records after this weekend's Narooma Oyster Festival on the NSW far south coast. Sun 5 May Sun 5 May Sun 5 May 2024 at 7:57am Yuliya Pashkovska, who died at an unpatrolled beach on the New South Wales' South Coast on Tuesday is being remembered as a "much-loved" health care provider. Thu 21 Mar Thu 21 Mar Thu 21 Mar 2024 at 6:25am
