UPDATE, 4.35pm: VCAT has clarified what “reprimand” Elise Chapman will face as a result of today’s guilty finding.
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A spokeswoman from the tribunal said the judge’s verdict Ms Chapman engaged in misconduct was also the former councillor’s penalty.
“By the publishing of the order, by it being there for everyone to see, it is a reprimand,” the spokeswoman said.
“[A reprimand] is a very serious form of censure for any professional.”
UPDATE, 4.05pm: Former City of Greater Bendigo councillor Elise Chapman has responded to a VCAT verdict that found her guilty of misconduct.
“My personal political opinions on FGM (female genital mutilation) and Muslims remains [sic] the same,” Ms Chapman said.
“I am unapologetic about my vehement opposition to any group in our society who practices such barbaric mutilation of girls and women.
“I consider myself reprimanded however that will never change my political opinions on the matter.”
UPDATE, 2.45pm: Bendigo mayor Margaret O’Rourke has responded to today’s VCAT finding that former councillor Elise Chapman engaged in misconduct, saying the council supports the tribunal’s decision.
“Council supports the VCAT findings against former councillor Elise Chapman and hopes the ruling concludes this matter,” Cr O’Rourke, who was elected in October, said.
“This is another step forward toward putting this matter behind us, so Council can continue its work making Greater Bendigo a vibrant, inclusive and welcoming community.”
Ms Chapman has been contacted for comment.
EARLIER: The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found former Bendigo councillor Elise Chapman guilty of misconduct and ordered that she be reprimanded.
The decision relates to a graphic tweet, which included an image of five children with bloodied and mutilated genitals, Ms Chapman sent while a councillor at the City of Greater Bendigo in 2012.
“The sending of this tweet connecting the building of a place of worship sacred to some members of the Bendigo community with genital mutilation and bloodied babies thus is a clear act of misconduct,” the decision reads.
In her ruling VCAT judge Marilyn Harbison said she could think of “no more gross example” of a violation of the city’s councillor code of conduct principles than to suggest “residents who hold a particular religious belief would mutilate young babies in the way she has represented in her tweet”.
“In doing so she has, whether wittingly or unwittingly, given voice to ugly and unjustified stereotyping of Muslims in the Bendigo community,” she wrote.
“This is the very opposite of what the Bendigo code demands of a councillor.
“There is even more force to this characterisation when the tweet is seen in its context.
“It was not produced as part of a rational discussion of the evils of child circumcision.
“It was sent without warning, to a person Chapman did not know, and whose reaction she could not have foreseen.’’
The offending tweet was sent in response to a member of the public who contacted Ms Chapman via the social media platform and Judge Harbison noted how the result would have been different if she had followed the example of her fellow councillor James Williams.
“All would have been well if [Ms] Chapman had followed the approach of another councillor, Cr Williams, who gave evidence in the hearing and said that if he had been sent an offensive tweet he would have ignored it,” she wrote.
“Sadly, Ms Chapman did not ignore this tweet.”
Judge Harbison rejected Ms Chapman’s assertion the tweet was not sent in her capacity as a City of Greater Bendigo councillor.
“Bendigo Council submitted that in fact the distinction which Chapman sought to make between public and private life is an artificial one. This was particularly the case because the mosque issue was still very much a live issue in the Bendigo community and the tweet was about issues do to with Islam. I agree that this is so.
“I am satisfied from the material that Chapman well understood when using her twitter account she was interacting with the public as an elected councillor ofthe City of Greater Bendigo.
“She was a willing participant in the exchanges that have been produced to the tribunal. Members of the public messaged her because she was a councillor and in some cases called her a councilor. They messaged her about council issues and she responded in her capacity as a councilor and not as a private figure.
“This is particularly so given that she was such a prominent and divisive figure within the City of Greater Bendigo.’’
Judge Harbison said given Ms Chapman “squarely put herself in the public arena’’ by using means such as twitter, she could not “in this proceeding withdraw or change the nature of her interaction at will’’.
RELATED STORIES:
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Read VCAT’s full decision below.
More to come.