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Zoom bathroom moment
A Dunedin City Council meeting on Monday turned chaotic after Mayor Sophie Barker told colleagues that Councillor Jo Galer had joined the call from a bathroom, with her laundry visible in the frame.
““You might want to move your camera,” the mayor advised.”
Barker warned Galer, “You might want to move your camera,” and added, “We can see your washing,” as Galer asked, “Can you see me?”
The exchange unfolded during discussions on local government reform, after the meeting began with Barker noting that two councillors would be attending online from “the other side of the world.”
As Galer continued speaking, a dark figure appeared behind a frosted glass door in the background, and a hand was seen reaching toward the glass before being pulled back.
The meeting livestream was watched by more than 2800 people, and the clip was later covered by Stuff and internationally by AFP.
Viral speculation and reactions
Social media and fellow councillors focused on what the background figure might have been, with one comment asking, “Who was in the shower? Was it her man? Was she holding someone hostage?”
A councillor who spoke to Stuff on the condition of anonymity said, “I wouldn’t speculate, but it really did look like there was someone in there,” while another added, “It wasn’t until afterwards when I checked YouTube, there is a person locked in her shower.”
Media coverage also framed the moment as a viral Zoom mishap, with Mediaweek describing the clip as going viral after Galer joined from “whate seems like her bathroom at home.”
The AFP News Agency account was referenced in Mediaweek alongside the viral discussion, and the incident was repeatedly tied to the visible laundry and the frosted-door background.
RNZ similarly quoted the same exchange, including Barker’s line “We can see your washing,” as the council’s local government reform debate continued.
Council reform and fallout
While the bathroom incident dominated attention, the meeting itself included elected members debating what the council’s position should be regarding possible council amalgamations in Otago.
““hobby horses, frivolous and grandiose projects and neglected vital infrastructure””
ODT reported that about an hour into the meeting, Cr Lund expressed his views on the subject, and then “Next was Cr Galer,” who told the council that the government’s push for reorganisation of local government came after councils had not painted themselves in glory.
In her remarks, Galer said councils had spent too much on “hobby horses, frivolous and grandiose projects and neglected vital infrastructure,” linking the reform agenda to spending priorities.
The ODT account also noted that Galer was elected onto the council in a by-election in May, and that she said she and Cr Lund were “very good friends,” having met on the campaign trail before the council election last October.
The episode added to a pattern of Dunedin City Council Zoom headlines, with ODT recalling that in 2020 then-councillor David Benson-Pope was seen on Zoom “wearing a suit jacket but no trousers while dusting his office,” and he later told the ODT, “I think it’s probably appropriate to describe it as being caught with your pants down.”