BrisbaneTimes.com.au
Out of the party ... Brisbane City councillor Nicole Johnston in a
photograph taken from her website.
Brisbane City councillor Nicole Johnston has followed in the footsteps of rebel MPs Aidan McLindon and Rob Messenger and resigned from the Liberal National Party.
Cr Johnston, who represents the Tennyson Ward, will now sit as an independent.
She was due to front the LNP state executive tomorrow to face a disciplinary hearing.
LNP state director Michael O'Dwyer said in a statement the party had accepted the resignation of Ms Johnston, who was suspended from the LNP in March.
Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said the resignation ''provides a new way forward for the LNP council team''.
''All 16 members of the LNP council team have believed for some time that Cr Johnston has not acted as a member of the team,'' he said.
''At the most recent council meeting, out of 13 votes taken, Cr Johnston voted with the ALP seven times, the LNP four times and abstained twice."
Cr Johnston was suspended from the LNP in March until the end of the year for "bringing the party into disrepute".
"In mid-July, acting in the best interests of my constituents, I spoke out about proposed Sherwood Bus Depot," Cr Johnston said in a statement.
"Since that time, I have been subjected to a calculated, petty and, at times, malicious personal and professional campaign."
Cr Johnston said she had resigned because she had not been given time to review complaints made against her by council colleagues.
"I have not made this decision lightly, but do so because I believe that the Liberal National Party has failed to give me a fair go in responding to two expulsion complaints made against me in February and May 2010 by LNP councillors," she said.
"On both occasions the Liberal National Party notified me that a complaint has been received, but has failed to inform me of the specific allegations.
"In each case I was only allowed a limited opportunity to review the material submitted in support ofthe complaints and the party has denied my requests for a copy of the relevant material."
Cr Johnston said she was still concerned that the Sherwood Bus depot and the Sherwood Graceville Neighbourhood Plan were crucial issues.
Council's Labor Opposition Leader Shayne Sutton said she believed behaviour from her former party colleagues led to her resignation.
"I believe she has resigned for one reason only and that is the extremely poor, and at times, malicious behaviour of LNP members towards her," Cr Sutton said.
Cr Sutton said she believed the LNP had already begun to find a new candidate for preselection in the Tennyson Ward.
But Cr Sutton said Cr Johnston would not be invited to join the ALP team, despite Cr Johnston voting with the ALP on one occasion at Tuesday night's council meeting.
In her statement, Cr Johnston said she had resigned after 20 years of being a member of the Liberal, and then the Liberal National Party.
She was elected in March 2008 as part of Lord Mayor Campbell Newman's then-Liberal team.
brisbanetimes.com.au revealed this morning that the newly independent Mr McLindon, another LNP deserter, had offered his support to Cr Johnston.
Nominations will be called immediately for the Tennyson ward.
