Latrobe Council is holding elections this spring. This background piece revisits reporting first published by the ABC in March 2024 about the council’s sitting deputy mayor. It is not a new development. Readers should check the original reports for full context.
Why this matters now
Tasmania’s local government elections are under way. Latrobe Council, like every one of the state’s 29 councils, will elect a mayor, a deputy mayor and its councillors. Under recent changes, Latrobe will elect seven councillors, according to the Tasmanian Electoral Commission (TEC).
The TEC says candidate nominations opened on 7 September and close at 12 noon on Monday 21 September, with candidates announced at 12 noon on Tuesday 22 September. Ballot packs will be mailed from Monday 5 October, and voting closes at 2pm on Tuesday 27 October. Voting is by postal ballot and is compulsory for everyone on the state electoral roll.
Vonette Mead is Latrobe’s current deputy mayor. At the time of writing, the candidate list had not been published. Readers can check who is standing on the TEC website once nominations close.
The 2024 reporting
In March 2024, ABC News reported on questions about how Ms Mead managed a conflict of interest during the council’s tender for the redevelopment of Camp Banksia at Port Sorell. At the time, she was also a Liberal candidate for Braddon.
According to the ABC, Ms Mead and her husband Tim Mead co-own the construction company Mead Con. The company bid on the roughly $4 million redevelopment in 2020. The ABC reported that Mead Con’s bid of $3.48 million was the lowest in the first stage of the tender. The company withdrew before the council assessed the bids.
The ABC reported that Ms Mead took part in parts of the process before the tender. This included council workshops where councillors gave input on the project. The ABC also reported that, according to its sources, she declared a conflict of interest only at the final stage. The ABC said she voted on matters linked to the redevelopment. These included a successful motion asking for a larger state government contribution to the project.
Geoffrey Watson SC of the Centre for Public Integrity told the ABC that the situation reflected poor management of a conflict of interest.
Ms Mead told the ABC she had always acted on the general manager’s advice. She said she had asked Mead Con to withdraw its tender out of an abundance of caution. The ABC reported that she did not answer its other questions, including when she first declared the conflict. The ABC also said the council did not provide a copy of her conflict-of-interest declaration.
The contract went to AJR Construct, and the ABC reported the redevelopment was finished in late 2023.
No public finding has been made against Ms Mead on this matter, and none of the allegations has been tested by any tribunal or court.
Ms Mead was not elected at the 2024 or 2025 state elections and remains Latrobe’s deputy mayor.
Read the ABC’s original report and The Examiner’s follow-up for the full story, and the Tasmanian Electoral Commission’s election pages for candidates and voting information.