Embattled councillor Nicole Johnston has referred Brisbane City Council to the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission over her perceived treatment at council meetings.
Reconciliation talks between Cr Johnston, who was elected as a Liberal Party candidate in 2008, and the council executive are set to start on April 9.
There are three issues where Cr Johnston said she was not being treated fairly - being forced to make payments to council out of her own pocket; not being provided with adequate office space; and not being given access to media monitoring.
Cr Johnston said she was being asked to personally pay back a $1789 debt because her Tennyson Ward operating budget blew out.
She first discovered her pay had been reduced by the figure when she went to the bank before Christmas.
"They initially took a lump sum and when I complained about that, they returned that immediately to my account," she said.
"Then I was advised in writing by the CEO that he would be deducting $150 each week.
"Every other councillor who overspent their budget last year had it waived by council," she said.
Ten Labor and LNP councillors had their budget over-runs covered by the council because there was money left over from other ward projects, she said.
A council spokesman said it was not the first time a councillor had had to pay back over-spends on their ward budget.
Councillors Sutton, Abrahams and Newton had also been required to pay back over-runs in 2007-08, but sources said other ward offices in their party covered the costs.
Cr Johnston argued this was an example of unfair treatment as an independent councillor.
She also said she did not have access to media monitoring services like all other councillors and that she had been asked to share the ALP's party room.
Media monitoring concerns were raised after answers to councillors' questions on notice were published in the council agenda on November 9, 2010.
Answers to which ward budgets "over-spends" had to be paid back are contained in the council's August 3 2010 meeting agenda notes.
It shows in 2009-10, Cr Johnston overspent her $27,846 budget by $1789. It also shows no other councillor had to pay back money in 2009-10, 2008-09 or 2007-08.
Cr Johnston, who now sits as an "independent liberal" since she split from Lord Mayor Campbell Newman's LNP administration, said it was ridiculous that she was asked to share the ALP's party room.
"Council in my view, by excluding me from the arrangements they make for all other councillors, is discriminating against me," she said.
"I don't know how to say it more clearly than that. They have done it financially, they have done it with office space and they have done it with services."
Cr Johnston said she had written to former local government minister Desley Boyle in September to try to get an office in the council's Ann Street headquarters.
While Ms Boyle acknowledged her first letter, she did not follow her inquiry, she said.
"Every other councillor has office space that reflects their political allegiance at 157 Ann Street. I don't. I sit in a corridor," she said.
Brisbane City Council would not comment on issues to be raised in the Human Rights hearings.
Labor's Opposition Leader Shayne Sutton yesterday said the deteriorating relationship between the LNP and Cr Johnston needed to be resolved.
"Someone needs to provide a 'circuit-breaker' and I think that should be the LNP council, who needs to step up and be the bigger party here," Cr Sutton said.
"They need to show a little more goodwill, for example giving her an office in at 157 Ann Street, which she currently doesn't have."
Cr Sutton said it was clear to her that Cr Johnston simply wanted to represent her ward.
A spokeswoman for Cr Newman said no action was going to be taken against Cr Johnston "at this time" for refusing to leave the council chambers on Tuesday night.
Four police officers had to escort her from the premises.
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QUEENSLAND CONSUMER WATCH COMMENT: LNP Councillor Matthew is a young, intelligent councillor who apparently believes in political decency and a sense of fair play. Perhaps, he should use his renowned negotiating skills to broker a truce in this matter between the LNP and Cr Nicole Johnston. After all, Cr Bourke's long held ambition to be the Lord Mayor of Brisbane would only be enhanced if he were to offer his services to resolve this difficult, political mess.
