Interim Intervention Orders Issued Against City of Burnside Councillor

Published on 20 September 2017

A series of interim Intervention Orders against Cr Lance Bagster, a City of Burnside Councillor, have been made by the Adelaide Magistrates Court. The applications by senior Council staff, the Mayor and a consultant were made following ongoing intimidating and threatening behaviours by Cr Bagster.

It is understood that this is the first time a council in South Australia has undertaken such action to protect staff, Elected Members and others.

The Orders operate, amongst other things, to prevent Councillor Bagster from assaulting, threatening, harassing or intimidating the protected persons, following or keeping them under surveillance, contacting or communicating with them either directly or through another person in any way (including phone, letter, cards, SMS, messages, E-mail, facsimile etc.), entering or being within 50 metres of the boundary of the City of Burnside Civic Centre or publishing on the internet, by E-mail, SMS or other electronic means, any material about the protected persons.

“The safety of Council staff and our Elected Members is, and will always be, our paramount concern,” Burnside Mayor, Mr David Parkin, said today.

“Dealing with this unprecedented issue for a considerable period of time has severely tested our ability to deal with the daily demands of Council business; Council needs to operate seamlessly so that it can best serve the community without such hindrances at play”.

The Orders are the latest in a series of actions implemented by Council Administration in an attempt to protect staff and Elected Members from Councillor Bagster’s continued harassment and threatening behaviour.

The applications to the Magistrates Court follows the release of a comprehensive report that revealed the significant health and safety risk posed to Council Elected Members and Administration staff by Councillor Bagster. The report states: “that the evidence demonstrates a systemic ongoing bullying; harassing and stalking campaign has, and continues to be engaged in by Councillor Bagster.”

“There is additional evidence demonstrating that Councillor Bagster has engaged in this behaviour for a significant period of time.”

Councillor Bagster has an opportunity to respond to the interim Intervention Orders on 26 September 2017 at the Adelaide Magistrates Court.

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