Cr Mitchell Pakes said he is disappointed Cr Annette Alldrick made what he claims were baseless accusations of misogynistic bullying in Shoalhaven council.
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Shoalhaven Independents Cr Pakes, chairperson of the Development and Environment Committee, said it was actually Cr Alldrick who caused a lot of the issues at the Tuesday, March 2 meeting which ended with four female councillors leaving in protest of comments made by Shoalhaven Independents Cr Greg Watson.
Cr Pakes said: "I'm not really sure what triggered the walkout to be completely honest.
"What I am a little bit disappointed in, as the chair of that committee, is on three separate occasions throughout that meeting, I had to ask Cr Alldrick to withdraw some very rude, very derogatory comments that she made about other councillors, including Cr Proudfoot.
"On two occasions, Cr Alldrick agreed to withdraw those comments and on the third occasion, she didn't. When I cautioned her about her comments she then withdrew those comments," he said.
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He encouraged members of the community to view the recording of the meeting and make up their own mind.
"I'm not going to repeat those comments because they were not very nice the way they were said and also the content of them," he said.
Cr Alldrick's comments were unintelligible on council meeting audio although her third comment withdrawal was in regards to claims of vote stacking by Shoalhaven Independents.
Independent Cr Joanna Gash was the first to leave the meeting after Cr Watson "had a go at Cr Gartner for being in Brisbane for the last 12 months," she said.
Cr Gash said Cr Gartner was stuck in Brisbane mainly due to COVID.
Cr Gash said: "[Cr Watson] never mentioned that Cr Guile hasn't lived in this area for over four years."
She said the issue for her was that she had to vote on an urgency motion about a COVID-19 refund policy that she had not seen.
"I'm just concerned that Cr Pakes wouldn't allow my point of order to be heard but he allowed all of Cr Watson's points of orders to be heard and he over spoke on everybody.
"Let's be fair and stop attacking people personally.
"I've been a seasoned politician for many years and I've never walked out. But when my credibility is questioned then I will fight back," she said.
Cr Pakes said: "All my network are women, my boss, a lot of my staff, my wife, my daughter, my mum and my nanna. Eighty per cent of the people around me are strong passionate women and it's very disappointing this issue has risen its head today on International Women's Day.
"It should be a day of celebration, not a day to be slinging allegations that completely aren't true because I think it undermines the whole process where people make these allegations."
"The fact of the matter was Cr Alldrick played on her phone for probably 80 per cent of that meeting. On three of four separate occasions I had to call Cr Alldrick a few times on which way she was voting because she wasn't concentrating on the point of business. Then she made these comments across the chair to other councillors, then stormed out and claimed that she was bullied," he said.
Cr Alldrick has been contacted for further comment.