When Baw Baw Shire mayor Annemarie McCabe used her final mayoral minute at last month's council meeting to call out appalling behaviour in the council chamber, it exposed sitting councillors to a level of discontent among the group.

While six of the nine councillor group will seek re-election this month, they don't believe the level of disunity will go against them at the polls.
Cr McCabe, in her final mayoral minute before council entered the election caretaker period, aired claims of bullying, appalling behaviour and a "boys' club" mentality amongst some councillors.
It was not the first time the mayor had let rip publicly. In March, two days after a heated debate in the chamber around gender quotas for place naming, Cr McCabe spoke at an International Women's Day event, taking a swipe at four councillors - Danny Goss, Darren Wallace, Michael Leaney and Peter Kostos - for their opposition to the place naming policy.
At the time, she said "this is why we need more women councillors in the chamber...I want to see more women than men."
One councillor labelled Cr McCabe's remarks at the IWD event as the beginning of the "gender wars."
At a Meet the Candidates' forum in Warragul on September 26, East Ward candidate Adam Sheehan asked "is personal agenda and ego the source of hostility" in the chamber amongst the current council group.
Cr Goss told the forum that under the Councillor Code of Conduct, sitting councillors could not respond to the question.
As part of our candidate profiles, The Gazette asked the six sitting councillors seeking re-election if they believed the discontent in the chamber would go against them with voters.
Cr McCabe had nothing more to add when questioned in The Gazette's interviews and gave no opinion on whether it would be a factor in how people vote.
Cr Farhat Firdous said she didn't believe Cr McCabe's mayoral minute comments would impact voters and "I can understand where she was coming from."
"I can work with difference of opinion, opposition, heated debate in the chamber or in private. What has been challenging is the personal attacks and way arguments are put forward."
"I would never personally attack someone. Civility and respect has been missing."
She said different councillors brought different strengths and positions.
She said her mindset had been clouded by defensive responses to personal attacks, noting it was human nature to react emotionally. "I would just like it to be respectful for everyone."
Cr Goss said he didn't think it would influence voters and couldn't offer further comment due to the Councillor Code of Conduct.
Cr Tricia Jones didn't specifically speak of any clashes but said it was important that all those elected worked together for the community's benefit.
Cr Leaney disagreed that a "boys' club" existed.
"The reality is, it's not true. I am not part of a boys' club. I've never been invited to have a beer with the boys or a champagne with the girls.
"I look at things on a case by case basis for the good of the community.
"I think the tone on both sides was rhetoric ramping up for all the wrong reasons that didn't add to the job we had to do," he said.
Cr Wallace said from the feedback he had received "people are seeing it for what it is."
He said he had spoken to a number of people following Cr McCabe's comments at the International Women's Day event.
"You can have a crack at men but there are a lot of women out there who support men. At a forum that was sponsored and hosted by council, to slag off at 50 per cent of the chamber in a public forum was inappropriate.
"That's what started the gender wars," he said.
Rather than focus on gender, he said the election should be focusing on electing nine hardworking councillors that the community deserved.