One Western Australian City Council is facing a petition for its own suspension, after councillors voted to stop its Mayor from speaking.

A petition is being circulated around residents of the Bunbury City Council, asking to suspend the standing Council – which recently voted to ban Mayor David Smith from speaking to the media ahead of elections in October.

WA’s Department of Local Government and Communities says when it receives the petition, which reportedly gained over 1400 signatures in three days, it will consider the motion.

Some reports also claim Bunbury Councillors were mislead by a fraudulent letter circulated around the chambers. The hoax message allegedly raised concern over the waiving of two city executives’ personal fines. The Department did not feel that a formal inquiry was warranted.