A SECOND internal arbitration outcome in two months has been tabled by Kingston Council, with more expected to come soon.
The latest arbitration matter was applied for by Crs Georgina Oxley and Sarah O’Donnell. They alleged that Cr Hadi Saab was guilty of misconduct.
Cr Saab was also the respondent of an arbitration matter tabled last month, applied for by Cr Jane Agirtan. The outcome of the latest application was the same as last month’s; the arbiter did not make a finding of misconduct against Cr Saab.
Cr Oxley and O’Donnell, the mayor and deputy mayor respectively, alleged that Cr Saab had breached the councillor code of conduct by “liking a social media post by a constituent dated 30 November 2025 expressing disappointment and frustration at council’s decision not to continue the operation of the Seasoul Sauna on the Mordialloc foreshore beyond its trial period; and sharing a social media story by Soul Sauna Group regarding the same decision and overlaying his own comments on the story.” The arbiter’s decision read “the applicants allege this post contains ‘imputations’ of corruption and dishonesty by the council, the mayor, deputy mayor, CEO and council officers.”
The arbiter dismissed the two allegations, and wrote that she “disagrees with the applicants’ suggestion that ‘liking’ a post affords as much weight as the original authoring of a post.” She said that the post liked by Cr Saab “was long and while it did include [the poster’s] views on council, the mayor, deputy mayor and council officers, its overarching message was of frustration with the process and disappointment with the outcome.”
“The respondent shared this overarching sentiment. As he argued, a crude indicator such as ‘liking’ a post cannot suggest the ‘liker’ endorses every word, ‘imputation’ and opinion expressed in a lengthy and passionate post and certainly not with the same or similar level of intensity as if he had written the comments himself,” the arbiter wrote.
In regards to the sharing of the social media story and additional commentary, the arbiter wrote “I agree with the respondent that his comments constitute ‘robust public debate of issues in a democracy’ which clause five of the Model Code [of Conduct] seeks to protect.”
Kingston Council is currently being overseen by two state government-appointed monitors. The arbiter wrote “it is disappointing this matter was not resolved through mediation and that so much time and effort have been expended on this process.”
“It is quite confounding how two relatively benign interactions with others’ social media activity managed to generate such voluminous written submissions in what started to feel like an endless game of response ping-pong between the parties,” the arbiter wrote.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 27 May 2026