Submitted by Councillor Graham Walkom on 2014.07.01

The webmaster,
KIpolis

The Ombudsman has completed his final report on the matter of perception by a few people that they’ve been offended by my political comments (Sept. 2013), and I enclose this for your reference. Please note it includes the apology he requires me to publish just on your website.

Even though KIpolis was very cautious not to name any person involved in this matter, contrary to the people involved who consider themselves to have been offended, council’s numerous statements, and The Islander (both in printed and web forms), it would be appreciated if you could nevertheless publish on your website this report and the apology unedited, with the context required for it to make sense to the general public. This way I believe both the Ombudsman’s and KIpolis’ requirements should be met.

Graham Walkom

Webmaster’s reply:

This a strange and convoluted saga that started as a tempest in a teacup to become a local island storm. It’s good for perspective to recap where it started.

In Sept. 2013 Cr Walkom wrote an email in reply to a sports club benefitting from Kangaroo Island Council’s largesse in receiving important subsidies. As a councillor, he explained that in his opinion rare money should be spent on badly damaged roads rather than on clubs. To make his point clear not only from a financial point of view but also from a moral point of view, he used some vernacular language (language rather typical in this country) to highlight that island-wide solidarity was needed.

The recipient of this robust email took offense and raised hell with the mayor and council. Instead of calming down this person, a majority of the local elected members decided to use this trifle matter to settle their enmity with Cr Walkom. Dishing out heaps of rate-payers’ money, they spent months and months, meetings after meetings rehashing the matter, blowing it up and up and involving all State authorities they could get hold of. Said State authorities (Local Government Governance Panel – LGGP – and Ombudsman SA) spent months of taxpayers’ money to produce no less than four extensive official documents.

Talking of a side using a series of nuclear bombs to settle a trifle dispute!

As webmaster, I find myself, with this request by Cr Walkom to publish something of relatively low interest to me, in a quandary. Contrary to council and The Islander, I was careful never to publish the name of the party considering himself to be offended, because in my point of view only elected members, public figures and official staff, large businesses and big private players, need to have their names mentioned in a public forum without their assentment. Otherwise, in my opinion, rules of privacy must apply.

Another important element in my appreciation of Cr Walkom’s request is that it includes a demand by the Ombudsman that an apology by him be posted on KIpolis… and on KIpolis only, while the people who created the fuss from day one: the person considering himself offended (who wrote to the mayor and councillors stating his indignation to what was a perfectly legitimate opinion of Cr Walkom), the mayor and majority of councillors who decided to blow the story up, and The Islander that thought it worthy to make a story out of it — these persons and groups are not requested to apologise to Cr Walkom for all the mud they have thrown at him… or to the “offended” part for publishing his name, by all means.

The kettle calling the pot black, indeed!

Whatever, there we go, I have to make a decision. Good decisions are to be made out of principles, but also with a practical state of mind. Considering that the offended party himself (party which seems to have been extended to his partner) was obviously indifferent in keeping his (and now also her) privacy, I resolved to give serious thought to Cr Walkom’s request. After some ponderation, considering the context, I decide to heed Cr Walkom’s request and publish the Ombudsman’s report unredacted. I am not entirely happy, but I believe I did my best to stick to KIpolis policy, and survival in the angry and hungry world we live in demands some molochian sacrifices to be made to it.

So here it is, some light reading for those with a taste for that kind of thing:

Ombudsman_May_Council_Walkom_2014-06-30

Dr Gabriel Bittar, KIpolis.net webmaster

Related posts:

KIpolis will not be drawn in the censuring and silencing of Cr Walkom — G. Bittar, 2014.02.08

Council opts for handouts rather than fixing roads — Cr Walkom 2013.09.22