Western Advocate spoke to councillors before mayor stepped down

Cr Bourke stepped down as mayor on Friday afternoon, saying he "wholly denied" the allegations made against him on the 7.30 program.

In the program, Councillor Jacqui Rudge alleged Cr Bourke had played a role in an attempt to blackmail her into resigning from Bathurst Regional Council in March 2020.

"The event referred to on the ABC program last evening occurred some 18 months ago; the allegations against me of bullying and threatening are wholly denied and are the subject of a police investigation," Cr Bourke said in a statement to the media.

Before Cr Bourke's announcement, the Western Advocate had spent the day contacting councillors.

"Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but the normal convention to me is that the mayor would step down at this point. He would step down until all this is resolved," Cr John Fry told the Advocate.

Cr Jess Jennings said the ABC's coverage was "shocking and disturbing", and it would be appropriate for the mayor to step down.

"Any decent mayor, or any decent councillor for that matter, would step down until it is resolved given what was aired [Thursday] night," he said.

Cr Warren Aubin, who called the threat made to Cr Rudge "despicable", said that, if the allegations against Cr Bourke were true, then he had to step down from council.

However, he noted that the allegations have not been proven yet.

"It's his decision, his decision whether he steps down or not. I'm not saying to him 'You better step down' or 'There's no way you can continue in the role', because I don't think all the facts are out there yet, and it's still under a police investigation," Cr Aubin said. "It's a bit of a hard one to make any comment on. He's got to make a decision on what he does."

In speaking to the Western Advocate on Friday, Cr Rudge said she went public with the allegations about Cr Bourke as she felt it was time for the community to know.

She did not call for Cr Bourke to step down or resign.

"That's completely up to him and the majority of councillors to make that decision," she said.

Councillors Alex Christian and Monica Morse declined to comment on the 7.30 episode.

Graeme Hanger declined to comment on whether or not the mayor should step down or resign, but called the content of the episode "interesting and somewhat disturbing".

"And let's let the processes take their course. Allegations at the moment," he said.

Cr Bourke has not responded to phone calls from the Western Advocate.

Bathurst's deputy mayor, Ian North, told the Advocate earlier in the day that he believed Cr Bourke needed to step down until the allegations against him had been further investigated.

Like many others, he said he was shocked by Thursday's episode of 7.30.

"I got absolutely floored by that last night, absolutely floored. I'll be honest, I feel gutted, I feel disappointed, I just could not believe what I had seen," Cr North said.

He said he had spoken with Cr Bourke on Friday morning and made it clear he was angered by what he saw on the program.

During those conversations, he advised Cr Bourke to consider stepping down or resigning.

"He's got a duty of care to the community and, I can't judge because it's an investigation, but I've told him that he needs to come out and tell the community what's gone on and I've said to him that he needs to talk to the media," Cr North said.

"... I think while it's under investigation, until whatever comes out of it, whether proved to be part of it or proved not to be part of it, whatever the result is, until that result comes out I think as the mayor of the town you need to step down. But I've said to him, 'Mate, that's your call. I can't tell you what to do. That is your call what you're going to do'."

Cr North said the investigations into the letter and whether Cr Bourke played a role had to continue.

He also commended Cr Rudge for her bravery and said he sent her a text message after seeing the program to offer her his support.