Whittlesea mayor Aidan McLindon suspended to 'protect safety' of councillors and staff

The former Queensland MP was elected at the local government elections in October.

Victorian local government minister Nick Staikos has suspended Whittlesea mayor Aidan McLindon for six months "to protect the health and safety of the councillors and staff".

In February, councillors voted unanimously to call on McLindon to immediately resign over claimed he had made multiple breaches of the Councillor Model Code of Conduct. Last month, McLindon was banned from attending Whittlesea City Council premises in-person.

For the duration of his suspension, McLindon ceases to be a councillor and must not perform any of the functions and duties, or exercise the power, of a councillor.

McLindon was elected in October 2024 as a councillor for Kirrip Ward with a primary vote of 54.5%. He was elected as mayor by a vote of councillors shortly after (mayors are not directly-elected in Victoria, excluding Melbourne City Council). After this, he contested the Werribee state by-election, where he finished third-last with 0.64% of the vote.

McLindon joined the Queensland Liberal Party in 1996 but left to join the Queensland Nationals in 2004. He joined the Liberal Nationals after the parties merged in 2008, and was elected as the member for Beaudesert at the 2009 state election.

Once in parliament, McLindon left the LNP to form The Queensland Party, then joined Katter's Australian Party. He lost his seat at the 2012 state election, ran for Family First in the Senate in 2013, briefly joined the Australian Federation Party in 2021, and then served as the deputy leader of the Freedom Party of Victoria from 2022 until attempting to seek Victorian Liberal Party membership in 2023. He is not currently a member of any political party.

At the 2024 Victorian local government elections, McLindon led a "Community Independents" team, which won two seats on Whittlesea City Council. Labor won four seats, independent candidates won five seats, while the Greens, Victorian Socialists and an Independent United Australia candidate were unsuccessful.

"Will I start another party? I can't say no, I can't say yes," he told 6 News in February.

"If the objective comes to the point where a vehicle needs to start...I'm not going to rule that out".