Tasmania’s Burnie City Council has announced a push for tougher code of conduct laws for local government following a spate of defamatory exchanges between its aldermen.

 

In a report by the ABC, aldermen of the council have been involved in a number of heated public exchanges, resulting in a public apology of the alderman behind the push for conduct reform.

 

Aldermen Malcolm Ryan and Steve Kons have exchanged heated and often insulting emails, with the content being circulated around the council’s staff.

 

The heated exchange between the two has forced the council to request Tasmanian  Minister for Local Government, Bryan Green, to intervene and urge him to introduce penalties for members who breach the Local Government Act.