Newcastle City Council Lord Mayor, Ross Kerridge, has stepped back from claims that some Council staff had waged a bullying campaign against his wife, Lady Mayoress, Marion Kerridge.
In a social media post published earlier this month, Mayor Kerridge responded to a media article about the use of his wife’s formal title – Lady Mayoress.
On 12 April, the Newcastle Herald reported that Lord Mayor Kerridge accused Council staff of waging “an insidious campaign of bullying” against his wife, a statement from Council reads.
“This was based on a social media post made by the Lord Mayor [the same day]. The online post was a response to an earlier Newcastle Herald article about the use of the title Lady Mayoress,” Council stated.
While not an elected office, the title is used in local government across Australia as a sign of respect. A Lady Mayoress often acts as a hostess at official council functions and chairs social and charitable committees.
‘’My social media post was a response to the article in the Newcastle Herald about the use of the title Lady Mayoress. It was in the context of a difficult and challenging first six months for both of us. It was not my intention to allege that council staff have bullied myself and Mrs Kerridge and I sincerely apologise for that,” the Lord Mayor said in a statement.
“I retract what I said and have deleted my post.
“I am excited and passionate about Newcastle’s future and am keen to get on with the job representing the Newcastle community.
“I recognise that some members of the community use ‘Lady Mayoress’ by tradition however we don’t actively seek to use it.
“I will be making no further comment on this matter.”
In the same statement, Council CEO, Jeremy Bath said he had written to the Office of Local Government in response to a request from two councillors and several staff who were seeking clarification about the use of title ‘Lady Mayoress’.
“I did not seek clarification of the use of the title at the request of the Lord Mayor. He had told me that he was not seeking to use it,” Mr Bath said in a statement.
“The Lord Mayor and I met to discuss the allegations of bullying made in his social media post on Tuesday.
“I am pleased that he has deleted the social media post and retracted his statements about any bullying of Mrs Kerridge by staff.
“As a result, I do not intend to investigate this matter any further.”
