Mayor defends himself after 30-day suspension for ‘raging lunatic’ slur

The mayor of an outer-Melbourne council said he has been subjected to harassment in the workplace and a character assassination by his political rivals, after an independent arbiter found he engaged in misconduct when he called his predecessor a “raging lunatic” in a social media post.

On Tuesday night, Wyndham City mayor Josh Gilligan was suspended for 30 days and made to apologise to former three-term mayor Kim McAliney after his Facebook post in September 2025 was found to have breached the Councillor Code of Conduct.

“This raging lunatic recently proclaimed she won’t pay her council rates … spouting anti-government propaganda you usually see from the sovereign citizen movement,” he wrote at the time.

Gilligan went on to say he would urge the council to release “confidential minutes to reveal one of the suspected contributory factors” linked to her resignation in 2020 and that she resigned because of “the shame she brought upon herself”.

Arbiter Simon Heath found these words breached Victoria’s Model Councillor Code of Conduct and that the “raging lunatic” comment towards McAliney was “belittling, demeaning, abusive and insulting”.

“No evidence was provided to indicate that Ms McAliney’s resignation from council over five years ago was for inappropriate reasons,” Heath wrote in his findings.

Gilligan was also twice investigated for misconduct in 2022. Heath noted that in one of these incidents it was found he did not treat another councillor with respect.

Gilligan was not sanctioned for that breach, but the arbiter for that 2022 finding wrote: “If this behaviour continued … a sanction would be appropriate.”

In his mandated apology, the mayor said his comments fell short of the code of conduct and “thus should not have been said”.

“I take responsibility for my words and regret the offence and hurt they caused to Ms McAliney. I am sorry to her.”

But in a statement released on Wednesday, Gilligan said he wanted to provide context “which isn’t reflected in the [arbiter’s] decision”, including that McAliney “is a long-time political rival and Labor factional foe” of his.

“Over the last five years, I’ve been subjected to behaviours that are unacceptable in any modern workplace, including being physically confronted at a public venue, having colleagues and their allies actively work to remove me from elected office, and being obsessively questioned about my professional integrity. These are not behaviours that should be accepted as something that Councillors should tolerate as part of their role,” Gilligan said in the statement.

“If the standards were applied consistently across all levels of government, many politicians would be clearing out their desks,” he said.

Gilligan said he would respect and abide by the decision and that he was not permitted to appeal the decision.

His suspension starts on Wednesday, and his apology must remain on his Facebook page for 30 days.

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