The ill-feeling between City of Gosnells mayor Glenn Dewhurst and councillor Peter Abetz continues after Mr Abetz sent out a public email on October 3, asking people in the community to not vote for mayor Dewhurst’s re-election team.
In it Mr Abetz said he was seeking people’s help for a better outcome for the city and expressed his concerns about Mr Dewhurst.
“The mayor of Gosnells is spending large sums of money advertising himself and his team of five other candidates, peddling half truths and misinformation about his fellow councillors,” the email read.
“He is very skilled in falsely making out that he is the victim of his fellow councillors.
“But let me assure you that having served with him on council now for two years his behaviour has been deplorable.
“Not one of the councillors who voted for him to be mayor would support him again.”
In the letter Mr Abetz advised the community to think wisely before voting and named a few candidates he considered suitable for election including current councillor and deputy mayor Terresa Lynes.
Mr Dewhurst said he asked for advice from Business Services acting director Andy Brighouse and lodged a formal complaint to the Department of Local Government about Mr Abetz allegedly using a State Government database to aid in his campaign against him.
Mr Brighouse responded saying the allegation that Mr Abetz used data obtained when he was a sitting member of State Parliament was a matter for the Corrup
tion and Crime Commission (CCC) to investigate.
In regards to the complaint about Mr Abetz and the substance of the email Mr Brighouse said he would pass the complaint to Business Services director Grant Bradbrook on October 7.
Mr Dewhurst said it was disappointing for a councillor, who was not running in the elections, to run an active campaign against other candidates.
“Peter Abetz’s email is nothing more than a cry for help, it is a last ditched effort to sway council and ratepayers to get him in as mayor,” he said.
“This email is all about Peter and nothing else and the community have been responsive to his email, unfortunately not in the way Peter had hoped.”
Mr Abetz said he rang the CCC on Wednesday morning, but said he was not aware of the complaint at the time.
“Mr Dewhurst may have lodged a complaint but I have not done anything wrong so I am not concerned about him lodging a complaint,” he said.
“I have re-read the email that I sent out to people on my personal contact list in Gmail and I stand by that email.
“He has a long history of lodging baseless complaints against councillors to the Local Government Standards Panel, which have all been dismissed.”
Ms Lynes said she was not aware of the email, only until she saw it on a community chat page.
“Whilst I am pleased that my fellow councillor has recognised my hard work and has shown his support, I believe it is important for all councillors, no matter how frustrated they are, to adhere to the Code of Conduct at all times,” she said.
