A Facebook post published during a council meeting led to the latest ejection of struggling Dunedin city councillor Benedict Ong. Cr Ong was escorted out of a Dunedin City Council meeting by security on Thursday after he failed to delete the post and unreservedly apologise. It was the second time this month the controversial councillor has been kicked out of a council meeting and also came within weeks of him being asked to leave two public events. Cr Ong had already had points of order upheld against him for disrespectful and irrelevant commentary on Thursday when Dunedin Mayor Sophie Barker called a new one — again for disrespect, this time for a Facebook post written during the meeting. In it, Cr Ong claimed the mayor denied his “right” to ask questions during the public forum part of the council meeting, amid other comments. Time for councillor questions has often run short during this segment and that was again the case on Thursday. After advice from council chief executive Sandy Graham, Cr Andrew Simms upheld the mayor’s point of order and asked Cr Ong to delete the post and apologise. Cr Ong edited it slightly and said he would apologise if he was headed for being “wrongfully” removed from the meeting. That was deemed unacceptable. ©Allied MediaCr Benedict Ong. Photo: Stephen Jaquiery Cr Brent Weatherall clapped when Cr Simms said he would now ask security to remove Cr Ong from the meeting. Cr Ong left, after continuing to talk. Earlier in the meeting, Cr Ong said he believed himself to be the only truly independent city councillor. Ms Barker raised a point of order for disrespect and this was upheld by Cr Simms. Moments later, Cr Weatherall called a point of order regarding relevance. The council was debating proposed amenity upgrades for places such as Brighton and Middlemarch and Cr Ong talked about possible council amalgamations and “land grabs”. “There are certain areas of our city that are going to be, and have been subject to, possible land grabs.” The mayor upheld Cr Weatherall’s point of order. Cr Ong has been told repeatedly he is not entitled to debate such decisions. On Thursday, he ignored meeting rules about that three times and continued to talk. In March, Cr Ong’s colleagues asked him to consider resigning over an email he sent about a staff member. He declined to resign.
