{"id":778727,"date":"2026-07-04T15:08:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/778727\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T15:08:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:08:21","slug":"new-cctv-reveals-how-hobart-deputy-lord-mayor-removed-alcohol-snacks-from-town-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/778727\/","title":{"rendered":"New CCTV reveals how Hobart deputy lord mayor removed alcohol & snacks from Town Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

CCTV footage and internal emails revealing how Hobart council staff caught deputy lord mayor Zelinda Sherlock removing refreshments from the Town Hall have been released under right to information laws.<\/p>\n

The documents, obtained through a request lodged by councillor Louise Elliot on February 2, were released this week and provide the most detailed picture yet of how the matter unfolded inside council.<\/p>\n

The CCTV images show Sherlock and another person, whose identity is redacted, visiting the Town Hall members lounge on January 7 and January 10 2024 \u2013 when council was not sitting.<\/p>\n

On the Sunday morning, the pair made two trips into the lounge around 8:42am, entering with an empty bag and leaving with a full one each time.<\/p>\n

\"\"Items including sparkling wine, beer and chocolate vanished within 48 hours. Image \/ City of Hobart (via RTI)<\/p>\n

On the Wednesday night, they returned around 10:15pm and again made two trips within minutes.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s annual budget for elected members\u2019 refreshments is $4,000.<\/p>\n

\"\"Microsoft Teams messages released under RTI show council staff agreeing to keep the matter confidential. Image \/ Composite
\n\"\"Council emails show staff describing the actions as \u201cquestionable\u201d. Image \/ Composite<\/p>\n

Internal emails show staff had already been tracking unusual stock levels for months before the CCTV review, with one noting in June 2023 that cupboards had been locked \u201cas we want to monitor how\/when the stock is going down\u201d.<\/p>\n

By January 2024, a staff member documented that within 48 hours of restocking the lounge, items including sparkling wine, Boags beer, soft drinks, chocolate and nuts had disappeared despite no meetings being held.<\/p>\n

After reviewing the CCTV, the staff member escalated the matter, writing that \u201cthe actions of the identified Councillor in this instance are questionable and wanted to ensure senior management are aware of what I have observed\u201d.<\/p>\n

A colleague responded there was \u201ca general level of concern in the knowledge of these recorded events and as such a sense to escalate this up to your attention\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"CCTV footage captured Sherlock making several visits to the Town Hall members lounge in January 2024. Image \/ City of Hobart (via RTI)<\/p>\n

The documents also include a Teams message between staff asking that the matter be kept confidential.<\/p>\n

A handover memo to incoming CEO Michael Stretton from acting chief executive Neil Noye recorded that Sherlock said she had been taking refreshments \u201cfor a number of years\u201d and believed they were part of the \u201cfringe benefits\u201d of her role.<\/p>\n

Noye noted the policy at the time did not clearly state items had to be consumed on site and concluded no further action was warranted.<\/p>\n

Sherlock has previously said the matter was dealt with at the time and she apologised for misunderstanding the policy.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Hobart City Council released the internal emails and CCTV images under RTI laws. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of years ago staff clarified that our Town Hall work snacks could not be consumed elsewhere,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She accused colleagues of using the issue to \u201cmanufacture dirt\u201d ahead of council elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CCTV footage and internal emails revealing how Hobart council staff caught deputy lord mayor Zelinda Sherlock removing refreshments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":778728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-778727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}