September 23rd, 2025Harassment has to stop, CEO

Attacks by keyboard warriors on social media, and personal attacks on staff just doing their work in the community, is impacting the mental health of Hepburn Shire Council staff.
It is also leading to staff resigning and with some jobs remaining unfilled thanks to the perceived poor reputation of working for the council, meaning the work is no longer being done in a timely manner.

Council CEO Bradley Thomas, in response to queries about the issue from The Local, said the negativity was having a massive impact on staff but there was little council could do to counteract what comes down to bullying.
“I’m doing lots of things, but we are really limited. We’ve spoken to Facebook, and written to Facebook around taking down certain posts and what they can do. But we have been underwhelmed at their overall solutions and it is really difficult to contact them.
“There’s not an Australian base or a phone number for a person to talk to. But we’ve engaged our lawyers to effectively get posts taken down – and you’ve got to do that on a post-by-post basis.
“So the problem with that is that someone posts today, someone posts last night, I come to work today, do a copy of the post, send it off to the lawyers and the lawyers send it off to Facebook. It can take weeks and the damage is basically done.
“We’ve got lawyers engaged, we have raised the matter with police, and we’ve also raised the matter with the Minister for Local Government. We’re effectively trying anything and everything to stop it. We’re really limited around what council can do as an organisation legally.”
Mr Thomas said staff are being encouraged to do what they need to maintain their mental and personal health, including not going on social media.
“We’ve supported staff taking out intervention orders. We have put in processes so that certain individuals can only engage with us in written form. We are also encouraging staff to hang up the phone (if needed). It’s disappointing that the legislation probably hasn’t kept pace with social media, so it’s really difficult to stop it. But we are trying everything, because it is absolutely having an impact on us.”
Mr Thomas said even individuals who are “quite stoic and resilient” were being impacted, along with their families.
“We’ve got great staff who are trying their best on a whole range of things and just don’t need to see this rubbish. It is probably from a select few, but the problem is the select few post and then numbers of other people get on and ‘like’ comments and add comments and it becomes more than it needs to be. Some of the worst comments are just horrific.
“There’s no accuracy to any of the information. We’re sick of it. We’ve lost staff over it.”
Mr Thomas said the recruitment market was tough and people were doing their research now about where they want to work.
“Why would you come to work at Hepburn Shire when you’re having to deal with community members like that? It’s taken up a hell of a lot of time. It’s probably taking our focus off other things as well because we’re having to deal with this and respond to this. But we’re keen to do everything that we can to stop it because it’s just difficult.”
Mr Thomas said council was willing to work formally through any issues that arose with ratepayers.
But those working on a keyboard warrior approach needed to have a think about what they’re posting and how they want to be treated, he said.
“The way some people are treating council officers is just inhumane, to be honest. And we’re sick of it and shouldn’t have to put up with it.”
Mr Thomas said some of the phone calls were also horrific along with staff, such as outdoor crews, getting sprays for things they have no involvement in.
“Look, 99 per cent of people are fine. It’s the 1 per cent who are just childish, so immature and so inappropriate. But they are having a massive, massive impact.
“I’ve had staff in tears. There’s probably not a day that I haven’t had a conversation with a councillor, a staff member or somebody in relation to some terrible behaviour.”
Mr Thomas said he believed it was an overall societal problem where people have lost the ability to treat people with respect. “We’re seeing it not just in council and not just in government. You’re seeing it right across the board.
“And something’s got to change because it can’t continue. And people will not want to do jobs where there is that public interaction. And council has a lot of amazing roles. But why would you put your hand up to take those roles on if you’re going to cop that?
“Where I’ve got really annoyed, upset and emotional about it is just the impact that it is having on staff and their family members. When you’ve got staff in tears, when you’ve got family members telling people, why the hell do you put up with this? That’s really tough.”
Words: Donna Kelly