Letters to the Editor
25 November, 2025
Facebook posts haunt Mayor
Letter to the Editor. Mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick is somewhat of an unknown phenomenon to me. From what I know, he is a ‘born and bred’ highlander and has been quite successful as a ‘builder’.
Mayor Jesse Fitzpatrick is somewhat of an unknown phenomenon to me. From what I know he is a ‘born and bred’ highlander and has been quite successful as a ‘builder’.
Though, much remains unanswered regarding his character. As a ratepayer, this is something I believe needs to be addressed. The Mayor holds one of the highest offices in our shire and is essentially the face of a multi-million-dollar organisation. I decided to do some ‘digging’ myself after hearing the way he behaved at the recent council meeting.
Though, what I found beyond all the satirical videos and whiteboard demonstrations was deeply disturbing. During a search, I happened to come across some posts that appear to belong to his personal Facebook account. It consisted of an array of allegedly homophobic and misogynistic commentary. An image of Mr Fitzpatrick giving some sort of offensive gesture and most disturbingly ‘light-hearted’ references to rape.
Whilst this does date back almost a decade ago and some may even view this as some sort of youthful indiscretion. I believe this falls well below the standards expected of an elected representative today. Especially as Mr Fitzpatrick has portrayed himself to be a quasi-advocate for families, women and young people.
I for one feel very uncomfortable to see him coming into our schools and interacting with our youth when he seems to think rape is some sort of joke. I will remind the mayor the ABS reported that just last year alone there were approximately 40,000 victims of sexual assault. Is that funny?
Yet, this could also bring the council into disrepute. Therefore, in the interests of our shire, Mr Fitzpatrick needs to address these comments and apologise.
Clare Potter
Exeter
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The Southern Wire has received copies of the posts referred to above and is satisfied that the posts are legitimate. To avoid offending our readers, we have decided not to publish the images.
Before publishing this letter to the editor, we reached out to both Wingecarribee Shire Council and the Mayor. We did not receive a response to our requests sent over six days ago.
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