Opinion
5 November, 2026
Dr Raymond Khoury Opinion
The Expulsion of Councillor Sara Moylan: When Responsibility Becomes Disorder
The expulsion of a Councillor challenges whether questioning ratepayer funds amounts to an act of disorder.
On 21 October 2026, Councillor Sara Moylan was expelled from the Wingecarribee Shire Council monthly meeting.
While speaking on the proposed rate increase, Councillor Moylan declared that she would not tolerate ratepayers money being wasted. The Mayor, Erin Foley, ruled this was an act of disorder under clause 15.11 of the Code of Meeting Practice.
At best, the Mayor had erred in her ruling. A Councillor scrutinising public expenditure is not an act of disorder, it is a legitimate criticism. It is a fundamental legal and moral responsibility of elected representatives.
At worse, the ruling was weaponisation of the Code, to silence a view which opposed that of Council’s bureaucracy.
The NSW Minister for Local Government, Ron Hoenig, has expressed serious concerns about the silencing of Councillors.
On 6 March 2024, during parliamentary Budget Estimates, Minister Hoenig expressed his concern:
“There are attempts in the Code to silence democratically elected Councillors by telling them that they can’t say something that might bring the Council into disrepute, which is effectively trying to muzzle democratically elected people”.
“…that is making the life of hardworking, honest, dedicated Councillors virtually impossible” (page 5).
In September 2024, the Minister described the Councillor conduct system as "fundamentally broken" and vulnerable to weaponisation through complaints.
Examples of what constitutes an act of disorder are listed in the Code.
Councillor Moylan did not threaten anyone, use abusive language, name a person or disrupt proceedings through physical misconduct. According to Council's media release (21 October), all she did was to remark on ratepayer funds being wasted.
Although the Code has statutory authority to remove a Councillor, that does not mean that exercising the power was necessary, reasonable or justified. In fact, it was a gross injustice.
The Mayor has a legitimate responsibility to maintain orderly meetings. However, maintaining order must not become a justification for suppressing robust and valid disagreement.
It was profoundly alarming that the Mayor’s decision was made in an instant. Equally disturbing was that there was no discussion, analysis or reasoning as to why the Councillor committed an act of disorder.
The removal of Councillor Moylan did not merely silence one Councillor. It deprived her constituents of their voice being heard in the rate increase discussion.
Democratic accountability requires Councillors to speak without fear and to challenge how ratepayer money is spent. Councillors must never be placed in a position to have to apologise for doing so.
Dr Raymond Khoury PhD
--------------
Subscribe to The Southern Wire Newsletter for free at the link below.
https://subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com/1986abc6-c89e-4781-9db2-cf35c9dd71e4
If you value independent local journalism across the Highlands, Tablelands and Wollondilly, please click the link below to support us to ensure we remain paywall free.
https://thesouthernwire.presspatron.com
The publisher's wife is a councillor at WSC and the publisher had no involvement in this opinion piece by Dr Khoury.
Read More: Southern Highlands