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Tuesday 19 December 2023
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Memorial for Peta Murphy HUNDREDS of mourners paid their respects to Dunkley MP Peta Murphy (inset) at Jubilee Park Stadium on Sunday. Murphy died on 4 December from breast cancer. Murphy’s husband Rod Glover (pictured) told the crowd that she “worked right until the end” and encouraged people to tackle new challenges. Picture: Brodie Cowburn
Councillor quits after three suspensions Brodie Cowburn brodie@baysidenews.com.au AFTER three suspensions and further punishment looming over his head, Steven Hughes has resigned from Frankston Council. Frankston Council confirmed that Hughes had quit last week. The Victorian Electoral Commission is expected to conduct a countback on 15 January to replace him in the North-West Ward. Hughes was a first-time councillor elected in 2020. In the three years since, he has served three suspensions and faced multiple misconduct
allegations. Hughes was most recently suspended for three months in September. A councillor conduct panel substantiated a misconduct allegation made against Hughes for social media posts published after a failed councillor conduct panel application he made against former mayor Kris Bolam. Posts he wrote about reimbursement of expenses to councillors were also cited as justification for his suspension. Hughes served a one month ban in 2021 for Facebook posts comparing Frankston Council’s local laws to North Korea’s. He served another month-long suspension at the start
of 2023 for mistreating council staff, and for sending a heated email to Frankston’s mayor (“Embattled councillor suspended for three months” The Times 5/9/23). A further disciplinary process against Hughes had also begun, The Times understands. Hughes’ social media use has landed him in trouble throughout his time on council. He announced his resignation on Facebook last week in a post which included bizarre references to North Korea, Jeffrey Epstein, Police Academy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Jesus Christ. “I can no longer be part of an
organisation that is unashamedly selfserving and cold-heartedly indifferent to the needs of the Frankston community. And so with a heavy heart I have decided to resign my position as councillor,” he wrote on Facebook. “I do not make this decision lightly. I made a promise to represent you and I apologise sincerely that it has ended this way. “Now, some councillors have suggested that I have a messiah complex. I admit that the good vs evil parallels are eerily similar. And although a checkout chick at NQR did call me ‘the ginger Jesus who taketh away the financial sins of Frankston Council’, I am not he - I studied account-
ing not carpentry. “Your financial lion has become a sacrificial lamb on the altar of Frankston Council’s wastefulness and mismanagement. And as my councillor body is laid to rest know they can never touch my councillor spirit. So if you hear a small voice discussing rates, or potholed streets, or why Frankston looks like Baghdad, don’t call your local exorcist. It’s just my councillor spirit living on through you.” Frankston Council has spent at least $60,000 of ratepayers’ money on disciplinary processes involving Steven Hughes. Continued page 5
