Updated ,first published
The mayor of a south-east Queensland council will take six weeks’ medical leave in the midst of a tumultuous time at the council known for its bitter political divide.
Redlands mayor Jos Mitchell took three weeks off earlier this year after she collapsed at work and had to be taken to hospital.
In a statement on Monday, Mitchell said she would take the next six weeks off work to fully recover from an ongoing issue.
“On medical advice, I have made the decision to step aside from my role as mayor for a period of six weeks to appropriately address a health issue,” she said.
“This is a decision I have not taken lightly, nor with any pleasure. It is though, a necessary decision if I am to continue in this role and perform at my best.”
Mitchell spoke out last week, complaining that she had been treated in an unacceptable manner at a meeting on the day of a community cabinet meeting with state ministers and MPs.
“Many excuse poor behaviour in this realm by calling it ‘politics’,” she wrote in a post to Facebook.
“However, there is a difference between politics and behaviour that is rude, disrespectful, belittling, threatening, intimidating, bullying and harassing.”
The post and subsequent launch of a project she hoped would bring attention to such issues, called Raise the Bar, has ruffled feathers, with one councillor saying the narrative of unchecked bullying was “complete and utter rubbish”.
Elected as a progressive in charge of a council with strong LNP ties after the retirement of long-term mayor Karen Williams, Mitchell has had a rocky first term.
Reporting by this masthead found there was infighting around the hiring of CEO Louise Rusan in 2025. Some councillors took issue with a deviation from the process that saw Rusan, an internal applicant, get a second interview after being eliminated.
The first recruiter hired to conduct the CEO quit, pointing out “significant internal issues”, which included a peer of Rusan’s running the recruitment rather than the mayor.
The second process, which landed Rusan the $500,000 job, was run by a council officer whose substantive role was as her personal assistant.
Mitchell did not sign Rusan’s contract, and relations between the mayor and CEO had been frosty, council sources said.
More recently, tension rose when plans for a Coles supermarket at Weinam Creek – where ferries service the council’s Southern Bay Islands – were canned by a contentious council vote.
In the aftermath, ditched developer Don O’Rorke told this masthead he thought the decision directly benefited the owners of a nearby Woolworths-anchored shopping centre, who had connections to the council and Rusan, and were trying to sell the centre.
Redlands has been a hotspot for complaints over councillor conduct for years, and Mitchell said last year she had received 47 complaints to the Office of the Independent Assessor (OIA).
“My great concern, and why I’m calling for change to the legislation, is because I have concerns about this process and its ability to be used as a political weapon,” she said in October.
Of the 1008 complaints into councillor conduct received by the OIA in the 2024-25 financial year, 114 were about Redlands councillors, the most of any local government area in the state.
In March, Acting Independent Assessor Charles Kohn told a parliamentary committee Redlands had again had the most complaints in the second half of 2025.
“Complaints relating to councillors at Redland City Council continues to be among the highest number of complaints received per council this financial year, however, complaint figures are influenced by several factors and do not automatically indicate widespread conduct concerns,” an OIA spokesperson said.
The state government appointed a governance adviser to Redlands in December, tasked with addressing “challenges affecting the council’s ability to serve its community”, according to a spokesperson from the Local Government Department.
Redland City Council has been contacted for comment.
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CLARIFICATION
This story has been updated to clarify Mitchell’s comment that she was mistreated at a meeting on the day of a state government community cabinet, not at the cabinet meeting.
