Department of Local Government says Cr Thomas Brough’s refusal to do training will result in further action

The State Government has said that despite Albany councillor Thomas Brough’s declaration that he will “defy” orders to complete inclusivity training he deems “forced indoctrination”, failure to do so would result in further action. A Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries spokesperson said Cr Brough’s mandated respectful and inclusive workplace training is compulsory. Fellow City of Albany councillors voted to assign the training at its June 25 meeting, in response to behavioural complaints levelled against him. “The DLGSC understands that City of Albany councillor Thomas Brough was found by the council to have breached the City of Albany’s code of conduct policy and ordered him to undergo inclusivity training as part of its remediation action plan,” they said. “Under the Local Government (Model Code of Conduct) Regulations 2021, the councillor must comply with the plan. “Failure to do so would make the councillor the subject of a potential minor breach complaint that the Council’s complaints officer would refer to the Local Government Standards Panel.” Cr Brough used his report time at the council meeting on July 23 to slam the Australian Human Rights Commission’s training as “thought-reprogramming” and refuse to complete it. “Forced indoctrination of elected officials is a sign of dark times,” he said. “It has no place in our modern democracy. To those who would impose their will upon the minds of others, I say this: you fight a losing battle. “Ideas cannot be caged. Thoughts cannot be shackled.” The training was directed as a response to multiple complaints filed against him in February when he suggested the plus in LGBTQIA+ included “minor-attracted persons”. The Local Government Standards Panel dealt with 99 complaints in 2022-23 and found that 39 had breached regulation. For those breaches, the panel mainly imposed an order to issue a public apology (18) followed by no sanction (6), public censure (3), training (2), and monetary payment (1). City of Albany chief executive Andrew Sharpe said the city was unable to provide comment but would follow the regulated process.