Tourism services boss Peter Abbott, who is also Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village manager, regularly uses his own name to post comments on The Standard’s website but has opted for nom de plumes to criticise councillors Brian Kelson and Peter Hulin over various issues from his personal laptop.

In one post, Mr Abbott accuses Cr Kelson of making a false claim at a public meeting while suggesting the councillor makes himself look “silly” and often muddles up agenda items.

The city council’s social media policy says breaches by staff or councillors may result in disciplinary action, performance management review or possible suspension or termination of employment.

According to the policy, council staff and contractors are expected to “behave with caution, courtesy, honesty and respect” and “reinforce the integrity, reputation and values of Warrnambool City Council”. It also says “individuals should use discretion and keep personal use of social media to a minimum during work hours”.

The revelation follows a civic storm in 2012 when Jacob Anson, the adult son of council chief executive Bruce Anson, posted website comments and also penned a letter to the editor of the newspaper under the pseudonym Wilma Wright.

The letter lampooned council election candidate Peter Sycopoulis, Cr Jennifer Lowe and Cr Hulin during the campaign period, but a subsequent investigation by the Local Government Inspectorate cleared the CEO of direct involvement.

Yesterday, Mr Abbott issued a statement. 

It read: “As council’s tourism services manager I participate in online discussions, often promoting or defending the work done by paid and volunteer staff at Flagstaff Hill.

“Over the past year I have made a number of comments on The Standard’s website about councillors and on issues of a political nature.

“I’ve done so — as many others do — under several nom de plumes. Some comments were made out of frustration as I sought to defend the work and activities of council.

“However, given my position within the council, a role to which I am totally dedicated, some of the comments — made in my own time — were inappropriate. I apologise for any offence I may have caused.”

Mr Abbott’s ruse was discovered on Sunday when a senior journalist at the newspaper noticed that an alias normally used by another frequent website contributor had originated from a different source. 

It was traced to the same IP address used by Mr Abbott when he posted comments under his own name in his official capacity as tourism services manager.

Ironically, the other frequent alias-user had also tried to dupe the newspaper by posting comments falsely identifying himself as Mr Abbott as part of a spirited online discussion about missing Flagstaff Hill relics.

Readers of the newspaper are encouraged to comment on articles featured on the publication’s website as long as they abide by the rules. The newspaper’s editor Steve Kelly said numerous comments were deleted each day. 

“Moderators are instructed to delete those that are deemed defamatory, obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, pornographic, vulgar, profane, indecent or otherwise unlawful, including material that racially or religiously vilifies,’’ Mr Kelly said.

“We also discard those that incite violence or hatred or are likely to offend or insult others based on gender, sexual orientation or any physical or mental disability.’’

He said readers were welcome to post comments using pseudonyms, a commonly accepted practice across all forms of social media.