Hawkesbury City Council Interim General Manager Will Barton has not publicly indicated whether a formal Work Health and Safety investigation will be undertaken following emotional scenes in the Council chamber on 12 May involving Councillor Creed.
During debate over the controversial media ban affecting Hawkesbury Radio and the Hawkesbury Gazette, Cr Creed spoke about alleged bullying, harassment and intimidation by fellow councillors, telling the chamber the situation had caused significant emotional distress and suicidal thoughts.
In correspondence sent to Hawkesbury Radio on 15 May, Mr Barton stated that if Hawkesbury Radio “or any other person(s)” believed Council had failed to comply with its WHS obligations, they were free to refer the matter directly to SafeWork NSW for independent assessment.
The emotional address by Cr Creed was viewable in the official webcast from approximately 1:23:45:
https://webcast.hawkesbury.nsw.gov.au/archive/video26-0512-2.php
Over the weekend, the webcast appeared to become unavailable or altered, with the relevant section no longer accessible. However copies of the original webcast are circulating in the community.
Information about notifying SafeWork NSW of workplace incidents is available at:
https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au/notify-safework/incident-notification
