NCAT bans former Wagga City councillor Paul Funnell from holding public office due to misconduct

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) began looking into allegations of misconduct by Paul Funnell in February and has ruled the seriousness of the then-councillor's actions warranted a disqualification.

Mr Funnell was referred to NCAT by the Office of Local Government at the request of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment in 2022 over the alleged intimidation of councillors and council staff, in breach of the Local Government Act.

In February, the tribunal determined it would conduct proceedings into two grounds of complaint against Mr Funnell.

Both grounds alleged Mr Funnell, who resigned from the council in December 2021, sought to intimidate and impede the council and its staff from reaching a decision on a misconduct complaint made against him.

In handing down the tribunal's decision on Friday, principal member Theresa Simon found Mr Funnell's misconduct proven and said the threats were intended to prevent the council from pursuing the complaint.

At a council meeting on September 14, 2020, the consideration of a code of conduct complaint made against then-councillor Funnell was deferred to the following meeting.

NCAT found after the meeting, about 10.05pm, Mr Funnell called the council's general manager, Peter Thompson, and left a voicemail telling him to "get ready for legal action" if the matter went ahead.

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In a submission to NCAT, Mr Funnell characterised the voicemail "as initially apologetic for calling so late" and then "quite fairly, puts Mr Thompson on notice that he intends to pursue legal action should the matter proceed".

He said there was no intention to impede or disrupt consideration of the matter.

However, Ms Simon said the threats were made to dissuade Mr Thompson from placing the code of conduct report before the councillors at the next meeting. She found the conduct was "calculated to impede the general manager" from including the investigative report on the agenda and amounted to misconduct.

The former councillor was also found to have intimidated other councillors by making legal threats against them during a council meeting two weeks later.

At the meeting on September 28, 2020, Mr Funnell threatened councillors when he read a statement declaring "if the current matter proceeds beyond this notification the appropriate legal action will be entered into against each individual councillor who participates".

Mr Funnell and three other councillors then walked out, leaving the meeting short of a quorum.

In his submission to NCAT, Mr Funnell said the statement was not "was not in any way intended to dissuade councillors from carrying out their lawful functions" and described the "pursuit of this trivial complaint by members of council" as "vexatious and driven by personal motives".

The tribunal found the statement was "calculated to impede and disrupt" discussion of an investigative report into his conduct.

The threats of legal action were intended to dissuade councillors from considering the code of conduct report beyond being notified about it, Ms Simon said, and there was nothing to suggest they would have been personally liable if they were to consider the report.

Ms Simon found the misconduct against Mr Funnell was proven and said his conduct was "serious, in that he did attempt to impede and disrupt consideration of a code of conduct report made against him".

"Consideration of such reports is important to ensure the highest standards of councillors and such consideration should not be impeded," she said.

Mr Funnell was disqualified from holding civic office for a period of two years.

Ms Simon said while the tribunal could have banned the former councillor for up to five years, she found two years would be appropriate.

The length of the disqualification means Mr Funnell is unable to stand at the 2024 council elections.

NCAT was told Mr Funnell did not wish to contest the matter and, due to personal reasons, it was not his current intention to contest any local government elections in the foreseeable future.

The tribunal found the nature of the misconduct meant a reprimand was not sufficient "to address the gravity of Mr Funnell's conduct".

It was unable to suspend Mr Funnell because he is no longer a councillor.

Mr Funnell was contacted for comment.

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