This month ALGWA Tas President and Waratah-Wynyard Mayor, Dr Mary Duniam, shared insights on changing standards of behaviour toward and by people in public life, and on the inherent dangers that presents.
There is a growing argument that incivility has become one of the most significant challenges facing local government in Tasmania.
While most councillors serve professionally and constructively, public attention has increasingly focused on disputes, personal attacks, code of conduct complaints, social media conflicts, and disrespectful councillor behaviour that simply paralyses the council. The atmosphere in civic life has grown increasingly toxic, where reasoned debate is often replaced with personal attacks, increased political polarisation, and criticism crossing the line into abuse. Too often, these issues consume council time and energy, distracting councils from their core purpose: serving the communities that elected them.
The real concern is not simply whether councillors disagree. Robust debate is healthy in a democracy. The issue arises when disagreement turns into personal hostility, bullying, harassment, or behaviour that erodes public trust. When council meetings become dominated by conflict, communities can lose confidence in their elected representatives and important local issues may receive less attention.
The normalisation of threats and harassment in local politics is dangerous. It is not just about the safety of individual Councillors, it is about the health of our democracy. It is this emerging unsafe environment controlled by a vindictive few that has become less representative, less diverse and less effective.
Democracy depends on vigorous debate, but it also depends on mutual respect. Councillors do not have to agree on every issue, but they should be able to disagree respectfully, focus on the merits of an argument rather than the individual, and work collaboratively in the interests of their communities.
This problem is not isolated to Tasmania. Across Australia, more elected representatives are reporting disrespect, threats, abuse, manipulation, doubt, intimidation and burnout. This blood sport in politics is having an increasing chilling effect on community representation and civic participation.
Tasmania’s local governments face complex challenges. Meeting those challenges requires leadership, professionalism and a renewed commitment to respectful conduct. The community expects councils to focus on delivering outcomes, not managing conflict. Restoring civility to local government is not simply a matter of good behaviour; it is essential to the integrity, effectiveness and future of local democracy.
In 2025 ALGWA Tasmania members made the Lift the Tone pledge, supporting the Local Government of Tasmania’s campaign for better behaviour in public interactions with local government:
- Promoting civility in public debate
- Refraining from abusive language and behaviour online or in person
- Encouraging others to engage respectfully
ALGWA, Women for Election, Pathways to Politics, the Better Politics Foundation and other organisations are working to counter the increase in violent and dangerous behaviour, including online abuse and trolling of women in public life and the destabilising impacts on democracy and equity.
ALGWA’s peer support, mentoring, insightful research, advocacy and online tools like Face Forward are all part of the solution.