Macedon Ranges Council is calling for a crackdown on bullying and threatening behaviour online as abuse of staff and elected members increases.
Councillor Jennifer Anderson called out the escalating behaviour at last Friday’s special meeting and sought greater cyber protection for local government employees and representatives.
“Increasingly we are seeing people go to social media, particularly Facebook, and make comments about councillors and staff when they have no knowledge of what’s going on in the background towards the decisions being made,” Cr Anderson said.
“They’re not interested in talking to us or to staff about what is happening and they are not appreciating the effect this can have on the individual and also the morale of the staff altogether.
“There does not seem to be anything out there to protect staff and councillors from this and it’s really important that we get this strengthened. This form of bullying should not be tolerated by anyone.”
Cr Anderson said unfounded comments online could lead to numerous other problems including uncertainty in the community about what was being portrayed in that space.
“Social media is not the place for us to respond to these comments and it’s very difficult to keep a running sheet on what is happening in the background,” she said.
The council will write to the Australian Local Government Association to call upon both state and federal governments to work with local and territory governments to address the escalating issue. The motion had unanimous support from councillors.
