‘Red-blooded’ councillor defensive over sex tapes
ABC
Redland City councillor Craig Ogilvie says he has done nothing wrong, despite sex tapes and pornography being found on his council-supplied mobile phone and laptop.
Speaking to 612 ABC Brisbane, Councillor Ogilvie said if he was guilty of anything, it was of being red-blooded.
“Maybe more red-blooded than some, I don’t know, I don’t think so,” he said. “Certainly not guilty of any improper or illegal behaviour.”
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Cr Ogilvie said suggestions he covertly took photos of women at the beach had already been dismissed by police.
“This is not something that anyone should defend,” he said.
“The idea that I’m capable of, or have been indulging in that sort of behaviour is incorrect.
“The reality is that was investigated by the police (and) dismissed.”
Making sex tapes was ‘part of personal use’
Cr Ogilvie admitted to having videos of his own sex acts and pornographic images on his council-provided phone.
“In my situation, I’m not an employee, I’m a contractor, I in essence sit like a director on a company board,” he said.
“I pay for personal use of my work-supplied devices.
“So that makes me a little bit different to everybody else.
“I think it’s private stuff, personal stuff and I certainly think that it’s my domain rather than the public domain.”
Cr Ogilvie said most people with work-supplied devices used them for private reasons.
“I don’t think people should feel threatened that somebody might seize their work-supplied devices,” he said.
“There is now a developing area of law about whether people who are even direct employees need to be concerned about their private use of work-supplied devices.
“What I’m told is that even private use of work-supplied devices does not belong to the company that supplied those devices.
“And nor should it.”
‘People don’t need to be slut-shamed’
Cr Ogilvie said people should not be ashamed to admit they watched pornography.
“I don’t think it’s uncommon behaviour,” he said.
“The time to be prudish about this sort of thing, I think we’ve moved on.
“People who have sex lives shouldn’t need to be ashamed or slut-shamed by anybody else.”
Despite the controversy, Cr Ogilvie said he hoped to be re-elected at the local government elections on March 19.
“I think I’ve done a good job, stood up for people with integrity,” he said.
“After I had my computer seized I put it to council staff that in future councillors should have their own personal equipment, that doesn’t have any connection to the organisation whatsoever, and that the personal equipment is rigged … so we can access what we need to for work purposes.
“If I get back in that’s definitely what I’ll be arguing for.”