Daniel Kingston: Joondalup mayoral hopeful ordered by State Tribunal to apologise over Facebook comments

A City of Joondalup councillor and candidate for mayor has been ordered to publicly apologise and undergo leadership training after the State Administrative Tribunal found he committed a minor breach of the Local Government Act and Code of Conduct over comments he made on Facebook two years ago. In June 2023, Cr Daniel Kingston commented on a post in a local Facebook group, where he discussed fellow councillor Christopher May’s voting record on the city’s draft coastal hazard risk management and adaptation plan and accused him of spreading misinformation. In mid-2023, the Local Government Standards Panel received a complaint against Cr Kingston for the comments and found he had committed a minor breach. Its finding was appealed to the SAT. In a finding released this week, the SAT said Cr Kingston’s comment accusing Cr May of misinformation was “objectively improper.” During a debate in the comments over the draft plan, Cr Kingston told Cr May “You are also very well aware that the engineering has not been externally peer reviewed. It is misinformation to suggest otherwise.” The SAT found that although Cr Kingston’s comment about the lack of an engineering peer review may have been factually correct, it was an improper use of his office. “It is more likely than not that Cr Kingston’s intention in making the misinformation comment was to cause detriment to Cr May by diminishing his reputation or causing others to think less favourably of him,” its report said. Cr Kingston argued he did not intend to suggest Cr May acted dishonestly or to damage his reputation as a councillor, and there would be nothing improper about publicly correcting a comment if it was inaccurate. Despite Cr Kingston making an apology in the discussion — “I apologise if you feel that I have been unfair to your position or misrepresented you in any way” — the SAT found it was inadequate. “I accept Cr Kingston’s explanation that by making the apology, he was trying to avoid a situation where he had a public falling out with Cr May,” the tribunal said. “However, in my view the apology was qualified because whilst it contained the words ‘I apologise’, those words were followed by the words ‘if you feel that I have been unfair to your position or misrepresented you in any way’.” The SAT has subsequently ordered that at the city’s next ordinary council meeting, scheduled to be held on Tuesday, September 23, Cr Kingston make a public apology to Cr May and advise the meeting that he breached the Local Government Act and the Code of Conduct. He will also have to complete an “effective community leadership” course provided by the WA Local Government Association for a minimum of 7.5 hours, or undertake an alternative training course with substantially similar learning outcomes.