Members of Brisbane City Council's Liberal National Party administration have escaped sanction for their behaviour in the chamber for the third year running, while a usual suspect has again topped the list.
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It continued a trend that started in 2008, when the Campbell Newman-led LNP won a majority in the council chamber, in which no LNP councillor has been formally warned or kicked out of a council meeting.
By contrast, although opposition federal MPs formed the vast majority of those sanctioned in the Federal Parliament, Australian Parliament House data shows 9.3 per cent of sanctions were directed to members of the government of the day since federation in 1901.
Independent councillor Nicole Johnston, who has been in open warfare with the LNP administration since her acrimonious split with the party in 2010, topped the list of disorderly councillors, attracting 75 per cent of the total disciplinary actions in 2015-16.
All other actions were made against Labor opposition councillors.
Labor opposition leader Peter Cumming said it showed the system was not working.
"The fact that only opposition and independent councillors are sanctioned year after year for disorderly conduct, just goes to show how politicised the Brisbane City Council code of conduct processes are," he said.
"It is why the state government's review of councillor code of conduct systems is so important because real reform is needed in this space."
Cr Johnston was twice thrown out of meetings in the 2015-16 financial year, with the 10 other instances of disorderly conduct formally recorded in the council minutes.
Cr Johnston declined the chance to comment and suggested Fairfax Media should concentrate on more "newsworthy" issues.
Labor councillor Steve Griffiths came in a distant second, with two findings against him – both on August 25 last year – with one recorded in the minutes and the other resulting in a one hour suspension.
Retired councillor Kim Flesser (Northgate) and Morningside councillor Shayne Sutton both had disorderly conduct orders recorded in the council minutes.
In 2014-15, Cr Johnston attracted 13 of 15 (86.67 per cent) disorderly conduct findings, while the year before she attracted seven out of nine (77.78 per cent).
Deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner said orders made by the council chairman, currently Angela Owen, were "not made lightly" and were always preceded by numerous warnings.
"Anybody who doubts the fairness of these decisions should come to a council meeting to see if the reported conduct is appropriate for an elected representative," he said.
