Qld mayor urged to quit after drunk crash

Redland Mayor Karen Williams has pleaded guilty to drink-driving. Photo: AAP
A Queensland mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver is calling for Redlands Mayor Karen Williams to resign after she drank âseveral glasses of wineâ and crashed her car.
Judy Lindsay says Ms Williams hosted an online meeting with her and two other families whose loved ones had been killed in accidents caused by drunk drivers hours before the mayor crashed her own car into a tree east of Brisbane on Thursday night.
Ms Williams says sheâd had âseveral glasses of wineâ before the crash, and admits it was a mistake getting behind the wheel but refuses to resign, saying it would be a ârash decisionâ.
Police are investigating the incident and no charges have been laid.
Ms Lindsay, whose daughter Hayley was killed in a crash involving a drunk driver in 2009, says the mayor rang her in tears on Friday night to apologise.
âI just said I canât have any contact with you anymore. You canât be doing the job youâre doing. I trusted you and this is what youâve done,â Ms Lindsay told Nineâs Today program on Monday.
âSheâs got to go, sheâs got to go, she has no respect for anybody in this community by doing what sheâs done.
âAnd if, you know, having a meeting with us, a Zoom meeting with us, wouldnât that stop you from getting in the car drunk and driving half an hour after having a meeting with us.â
Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said his Liberal National Party colleague should face consequences for her actions.
âI have zero tolerance for drunk-driving, and it doesnât matter who you are, it doesnât matter what you do, it doesnât matter where you live: you should never put yourself in that position,â he told reporters on Monday.
âAnd there has to be consequences for actions.â
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Nationals leader David Littleproud have called for Ms Williams to resign, along with state Environment Minister Meaghan Scanlon and fellow Labor MP Don Brown.
Mr Littleproud said the mayorâs position was untenable, given her advocacy for the victims of drink-drivers.
âWe know youâre in public office, we know you donât always get it right, and I donât always get it right, but this is a big miscalculation ⊠I think her position is untenable,â he told Today.
âI would hope she would do that under her own volition.â
Mr Peter Dutton said drink-driving was âcompletely unacceptableâ and Ms Williams needed to set a strong example âin terms of actions, accountabilities and consequencesâ.
âMy message, particularly as a former police officer, is to not have that extra drink. Donât drink and drive. I mean, thereâs no excuse for it, and the consequences can be deadly,â he told reporters on Sunday.
â AAP








