The mayor of an outer-Melbourne council has been suspended for 30 days after an independent arbiter found he engaged in misconduct when he called his predecessor a “raging lunatic” in a social media post.
Josh Gilligan, mayor of Wyndham City, will also be required to make a written apology to former three-term mayor Kim McAliney after his Facebook post in September, 2025.
“This raging lunatic recently proclaimed she won’t pay her council rates… sprouting ani-government propaganda you usually see from the sovereign citizen movement,” he wrote at the time.
Gilligan went on to say he would urge the council to release “confidential minutes to reveal one of the suspected contributory factors” linked to her resignation in 2020 and that she resigned because of “the shame she brought upon herself”.
Arbiter Simon Heath, found that these words breached Victoria’s Model Councillor Code of Conduct, and that the “raging lunatic” comment towards McAliney was “belittling, demeaning, abusive and insulting”.
“No evidence was provided to indicate that Ms McAliney’s resignation from council over five years ago was for inappropriate reasons,” Heath wrote in his findings.
Heath said Gilligan had defended the post, claiming it was justifiable because McAliney was “a political activist” with “factional alignments” and had shown “obsessive behaviour” towards him, among other reasons.
Gilligan was also twice investigated for misconduct in 2022, and Heath noted that in one of these incident it was found he did not treat another councillor with respect.
Gilligan was not sanctioned for that breach, but the arbiter for that 2022 finding wrote: “If this behaviour continued… a sanction would be appropriate.”
Gilligan was contacted for comment. In his mandated apology, the mayor said his comments fell short of the code of conduct and “thus should not have been said”.
“I take responsibility for my words and regret the offence and hurt they caused to Ms McAliney. I am sorry to her.”
His suspension starts on Wednesday, and his apology must remain on his Facebook page for 30 days.
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Angus Delaney is a reporter at The Age. Email him at angus.delaney@theage.com.au or contact him securely on Signal at angusdelaney.31Connect via email.
