UNANIMOUS SUPPORT TO LIFT THE TONE AS MAYOR SHARES PERSONAL IMPACT
At the Latrobe Council’s 23rd June 2025 Ordinary Meeting, Councillors present unanimously resolved to challenge the normalisation of abuse against Elected Members and Council Officers, and pledged their support for the Local Government of Tasmania’s Lift the Tone campaign to promote civility in public debate.
Mayor Peter Freshney moved the motion and shared some of his own personal experiences as an elected representative, detailing the personal impacts of a now five-year orchestrated campaign waged against elected representatives, Council staff and management. A campaign which appears to be designed to undermine Council, divide our community, discredit leaders and inflict reputational damage.
This campaign has its genesis in the then General Manager’s decision to issue an Emergency Order to protect Seasonal Workers at a property in Arthur Street, Shearwater in February 2020. A second emergency evacuation order at the same property issued in 2023 was appealed to Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) and the publicly available decision of that tribunal supported actions taken to protect seasonal workers.
In a public statement subsequent to the release of the TASCAT tribunal decision, the former General Manager, under whom the action was taken, noted that despite what he considered to be intimidation and harassment he had been subjected to by the Baldock family (Insight (Tas) Pty Ltd) and their representative Mr James Redgrave over the last four years, he would have no hesitation to again issue an Emergency Order if he was confronted with the same situation in the future. He said he could not live with his conscience if there had been a fire at the premises and a loss of life. It was noted in the decision that Mr James Redgrave was the caretaker at the property.
It was noted that the Council meeting was coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Childers backpackers hostel fire, where fifteen occupants of that facility lost their lives in a tragedy that the then General Manager sought to prevent from being repeated in our community.
The Mayor noted that this prolonged campaign has been punctuated by threats of legal action, personal attacks, claims of corruption and mismanagement, incessant questioning and speculative statements at each and every Council meeting and AGM over a five-year period.
Mayor Freshney reflected on the personal impact the campaign has had on his life.
“From my personal relationships, to my work outside of public office, from private social activities to my own health and wellbeing. No aspect of my life has been spared. My wife and I have been photographed at a social function and that photograph then used on social media to belittle me, to infer a relationship outside our marriage and to cause reputational harm. Provisions within the Code of Conduct have been weaponised against me, but in every instance proven to be unsubstantiated. I’ve faced multiple threats of legal action including defamation proceedings and been accused of threatening my fellow Councillors with I quote “litigation and possible jail time.”
Complaints relating to me or my actions have been made to the Integrity Commissioner, the Discrimination Commissioner, the office of the Director of Local Government and the Minister for Local Government, amongst others.
On November 21st, 2021, the Examiner newspaper published a letter to the editor which suggested, among other assertions, that I was incompetent and corrupt, later retracting those claims and apologising as there was no basis for such claims. That letter, written by an otherwise respected member of the Ulverstone community, a person I’d never met, nor to the best of my knowledge, had any interaction with our Council. None the less, a letter that achieved its intent.
I’ve been subject to claims of taking cash in brown paper bags, there have been claims of undeclared conflicts of interest and as recently as the morning of April 23rd Mr Redgrave was witnessed taking photographs of me and my colleagues whilst I was working on a construction site on the corner of Charles and Ashgrove Streets in Devonport.
Multiple attempts have been made to embarrass or belittle me, anonymous posters have appeared in letterboxes in the greater Port Sorell area, and I have been subject to highly personal attacks on social media, predominately by a “James Harvey.”
Anxiety and apprehension are now my constant companions, and unbroken sleep just a distant memory. Apparently, the price to be paid for community representation and leadership!”, he said.
The LGAT initiative to Lift the Tone of public discourse in this state has at its heart, campaigns like we are being exposed to here in Latrobe and the behaviours contained there-in, that are simply unacceptable.
Through supporting this motion, Latrobe Councillors draw a line in the sand, and put on notice those who deliberately seek to bring our Council into disrepute, and who intentionally set out to cause harm to those elected or employed in the service of our community.
ENDS