Councillor Karen Renkema-Lang has filed court proceedings against Kiama Municipal Council and the conduct reviewer over the decision to censure her in November 2023 for comments she made during a radio interview.

She will look to quash or set aside the decision on the grounds that Kiama Council allegedly failed to follow the procedures for assessing allegations of misconduct, denial of procedural fairness, and apprehended bias.

A hearing for the court proceedings is listed at the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney for 27 February at 10am.

In a statement announcing her legal action, Councillor Renkema-Lang stated it wasn’t about one individual case, but to defend the fundamental right to free speech and ensure due process in the way code of conduct complaints are handled.

“A successful legal challenge will establish clear guidelines for fair and appropriate use of the code, protecting free speech and ensuring due process in response to future allegations of breaches of the code of conduct,” Councillor Renkema-Lang stated.

Kiama Council issued a public statement saying it could not comment on the specifics of an ongoing legal matter.

In the same statement, Kiama Council CEO Jane Stroud commented:

“The organisation is currently experiencing an extreme amount of pressure and stress associated with well documented financial and governance matters. Legal fees for the organisation are already excessive and this new matter does create an additional financial burden on the business,” Stroud said.

“The Performance Improvement Order and the recent Raynor report clearly explain what ought to be the focus of both the Councillors and the administration right now.”

”I hold specific concerns and worry about the worsening functionality of the Council, when in such uncertain times and unchartered territory, what is really required is cohesive and collective effort to correct the course of the organisation”.  

Kiama Council also stated it has spent more than $20,000 to date on handling the complaint.

On 21 June 2023, Councillor Renkema-Lang was interviewed by ABC Illawarra where she relayed ongoing concerns from the community about Council’s process to divest of Blue Haven Bonaira.

“When you sell to a private body, you cannot guarantee universal access to maintain broader community cohesion, those are the things that weren’t evident and disclosed in the planning proposal and were brought to light the night before the meeting,” Councillor Renkema-Lang said.

“There’s been, in my view, not sufficient time for the decision makers to consider that information and to acknowledge the impact that this has had on the community.”

Five months later, Councillor Renkema-Lang was censured over the interview in a confidential session based on the findings of an independent investigator, saying she had breached the following clauses of Council’s code of conduct:

●      Clause 3.1 conducting herself in a manner likely to bring other council officials into disrepute;

●      Clause 3.1c conducting herself in a manner that was improper or unethical and;

●      Clause 31.1 Breaching the policy code of conduct

No further details were given about the breach of the code of conduct, until Mayor Neil Reilly appeared on Kiama Community Radio the following week to share his perspective.

Mayor Reilly revealed that he was the one that made the complaint about Councillor Renkema-Lang, which triggered an investigation into her comments. He said that Councillor Renkema-Lang had received three complaints from fellow councillors, three from staff and four from the community that she had “spoken in such a way to infer that the staff weren’t doing their job.”

“It’s not a matter of just expressing some thoughts, it’s a matter of telling people that she’s not happy with the work that staff are doing, not happy with the information that she’s getting.”

Mayor Reilly would not be drawn to specify exactly what the problematic comments in question were. As the recording shows, Councillor Renkema-Lang never mentioned her fellow councillors by name or staff.

Mayor Reilly also claimed that the independent investigator responsible for assessing the complaint was himself accused of bullying during the process and had to front the Office of Local Government.

Councillor Renkema-Lang has established an online Chuffed fundraising campaign to help cover her legal costs. Any unspent funds will be divided equally between three charitable organisations: Illawarra Women’s Health Centre, Reach-Out and the World Wildlife Fund - Australia.

This story was updated at 7:28pm 19 February 2024 to include the media statement from Kiama Council.