Wellington City Council councillor Teri O'Neill. Photo: RNZ / Mary Argue
A Wellington city councillor who's been subjected to vitriol and harassment says abuse from members of the public is always shocking.
Council data shows abuse towards staffers has increased in recent years, with reports of personal confrontations jumping from around 400 per year in 2020, to almost 1000 annually.
Teri O'Neill said she dealt with "significant online abuse" which in some instances has spilled into the real world.
"I had a case in its extremity that I had to block from all my social media and then he started messaging my little sister on Instagram trying to get to me."
She'd also had an unmarked package show up at her house - it was well-intentioned - but she said it was triggering to know that someone knew where she lived.
"We believe that it was dropped off in person ... just really insidious things."
O'Neill said when she saw council staffers getting abused, her first instinct was to step in and try to de-escalate the situation.
She said she understood people's frustration with the council, but said vitriol and hate was not the way to get the leak outside the front door fixed.
"I believe that no one, regardless of what cause or what job they have, deserves to show up to work and be yelled at, disrespected or insulted - and I think that's a minimum standard."
The MySafety system where staffers Health & Safety reports - ranging from falls, cuts and other workplace injuries - also tracked personal confrontations and revealed it was the highest risk staffers faced, increasing 323 percent since 2016.
Photo: Supplied / Wellington City Council
Wellington City Council's senior senior health and safety partner, Chris Brown said the rise in abuse both online and in person, had coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Brown said he'd experienced the abuse firsthand as a former issues resolution officer and said frontline workers, such as parking wardens, were particularly targeted.
"They do get told to f*** off. They do get told to pack the hell up ... to get out, to go away or they're physically getting threatened."
He said people's frustration at the council shouldn't be directed at individuals just trying to do their job.
"All we want is for them to take a pause first and imagine what it would be like for one of their family members to receive that level of abuse, and redirect it a little bit."
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