Fourth code of conduct complaint laid against Dunedin councillor Benedict Ong

Detailed summary

A fourth code of conduct complaint has been laid against controversial Dunedin city councillor Benedict Ong. Ong has already been suspended from some duties and been asked to…

A fourth code of conduct complaint has been laid against controversial Dunedin city councillor Benedict Ong.

Ong has already been suspended from some duties and been asked to resign after three earlier complaints were upheld this year.

The fourth complaint was made after he refused to retract claims on social media the city's forests were secretly being put up for sale.

Dunedin City Council chief executive Richard Briggs told him the were false and the posts needed to be taken down before a deadline last Wednesday.

Ong publicly alleged the mayor and other councillors colluded against the interests of the city with no evidence to support the claims, Briggs said in a letter Ong sent to media shortly after receiving it.

Briggs told Ong he wanted to give him the opportunity to avoid any further costs to ratepayers by going through a fourth code of conduct complaint

Instead, Ong doubled down and posted a similar claim within hours of the deadline.

He previously told RNZ he stood by his posts and would not take them down, claiming the complaints were being weaponised against him.

On Thursday, just over a week since the missed deadline, Briggs told Ong he had submitted a complaint "regarding recent public commentary you made on Facebook concerning City Forests Limited, the Mayor, other elected members, and a Council-engaged adviser and his firm".

Opening of the article, excerpted from RNZ. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.