THE decision by the Bass Coast Shire Council to advocate for a ‘Yes’ vote at the Voice to Parliament referendum next month has had a sensational outcome at the council meeting on Wednesday this week when a member of the public gallery was escorted out of the council chamber by police.
Council had just voted in favour of adopting a policy to “support a constitutionally enshrined voice to Parliament for First Nations people” when a member of the public gallery, an avid council watcher, interjected with “shame, shame”.
Having initially ignored the interjection, the Mayor Cr Michael Whelan responded when the member of the gallery repeated his “shame” comment while a division of councillors, when votes are recorded, was taking place.
Cr Whelan asked the person to leave but he refused to do so.
A security officer in the council chamber was directed to come across and he asked the member of the public to withdraw, again he declined.
The Mayor then adjourned the meeting and councillors vacated the chamber and police were called,
The security officer again gave the interjector the opportunity to leave, before the police arrived, but again he declined.
The person was seated in the gallery with members of the local Yes23 group and he explained his position to them while waiting for the police to arrive.
“I'm not against the referendum, in fact I’m a supporter, I’m going to vote ‘Yes’ but what I don’t agree with is council politicising the issue,” he said.
He had earlier explained that he thought council should be apolitical where referenda was concerned.
Ultimately, the police arrived and interjector was escorted peacefully out of the chamber and out of the building. The meeting resumed after a half-an-hour delay.
“I was just about to congratulate council on the respect with which the debate was conducted today until we had an interruption from the gallery trying to score some cheap points. That won’t be tolerated as you have seen today,” said the Mayor Cr Michael Whelan.
“If people want to speak at a council meeting, they can nominate and stand for council at the end of next year,” he said as the council meeting finally resumed.
The Notice of Motion, calling on council to set a policy in support of the Voice to Parliament was passed on a vote of five to three with one abstention with Crs Laing, Le Serve, Whelan, Rooks and Ellis in favour, Crs Bauer, Halstead and Tessari against with Cr Les Larke abstaining.
Most of the councillors spoke during the debate.
More details to follow.
