The idea of a review was raised yesterday by a councillor at Maribyrnong in Melbourne, who said she had been harassed and threatened via her publicly available phone number.

Maribyrnong councillor Sarah Carter says she has been subjected to sexual and verbal threats by people calling or messaging her work phone since she became a councillor seven years ago, but social media has made it worse.

And she’s not alone — her only fellow female colleague on council Catherine Cumming has been targeted too.

Albury mayor Kevin Mack and Indigo mayor Bernard Gaffney said this had not been an issue for any councillor, as far as they were aware.

Cr Mack said any change to accessing councillors would not be a good thing, as part of the job was to be available to ratepayers, while Cr Gaffney said he had only received a handful of heated phone calls in his time on the council.

“Certainly there were calls where people spoke in a derogatory way about council decisions but as for straight out abuse, no,” he said.

Albury councillor David Thurley said he had had one incident last year of a businessman using “bullying tactics” via email, but that it was largely not a problem.

Indigo councillor Jenny O’Connor said she received abusive phone calls after bringing forward motions to the council on supporting same-sex marriage and asylum seekers.

However, she said she had experienced more abuse or threats when running as a candidate for the Greens in state or federal politics, than at a council level.

“It’s very personal for us because we live in these towns,” she said.

“So even if it’s not abusive, to have people in your face can be fairly uncomfortable.

“Generally we’re a fairly cohesive community but things that are divisive, like support for gay people or refugees is when it comes out.

“Someone disagreeing with you or being upset about a decision is fine — it’s how they deal with it that matters.”