The Member for Wallsend has hit back at claims of bullying by the Lord Mayor of Newcastle.
It follows Tuesday night's council meeting where councillors discussed the management contracts for the city's five inland pools.
When seven Labor councillors declared a conflict of interest over the issue, Liberal councillors were unable to form a quorum and the matter was delegated to Council's CEO Jeremy Bath.
Lord Mayor Nuatali Nelmes says Sonia Hornery instructed her on how to vote on the matter and in turn, created a conflict of interest.
Sonia Hornery, who's been a long-time critic of privatisation, says the claims are false and misleading, and she won't back down from advocating for her constituents.
Meanwhile, Liberal councillor Callum Pull says he's disappointed with how the meeting played out.
He and Cr Jenny Barrie issued a statement today noting Council's responsibility to reach a democratic decision on issues of public interest.
Cr Pull said although councillors are within their rights to declare a conflict, personal or political views do not constitute a private interest.
"There's nothing wrong with having a political view... and as far as I can tell, it's never been specifically about a tender, it's always been about opposing the privatisation of the pools, which the Labor party ran a very public campaign on nine years ago when this issue first arose.
They were not excluded from decisions then, and again, having a political view does not exclude you from assessing a tender," he said.
In relation to the bullying allegations against Sonia Horney, Cr Pull said he's had no such experience with the Wallsend MP.
"I have never seen anything that could be described as bullying behaviour by Sonia Hornery."
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