Jennifer Pittorino
Local Palestinian residents are asking Hobsons Bay council to rescind a motion in response to a petition addressing the Middle East conflict.
In its meeting on February 13, councillors voted in favour of accepting the petition which called on council to raise a motion which calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
As part of the same item, councillor Tony Briffa tabled a notice of motion titled, ‘support for Hobsons Bay residents impacted by overseas conflict’.
Councillors Daria Kellander and Peter Hemphill abstained from voting on the motion with Cr Kellander saying the council must resolve to receive the petition and refer the matter for a future report which is the normal protocol.
Members of local group Hobsons Bay 4 Palestine feel that council put forward the motion without consulting the Palestinian community enough.
“Our petition asked council to call for an immediate ceasefire and to stand for justice,” group member Sarah Baarini said.
“Councillors have failed to communicate with constituents and have failed to hear them out entirely.
“We pushed them to consult with the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, to make sure we can work together.
“I think it was very irresponsible of councillors to put forward a motion after hearing from members of the community once or twice.”
Ms Baarini thinks it would have been better for council to display a draft motion at the time of the meeting.
She said the group has since sent an email to council asking them to rescind the motion and put forward one that addresses the concerns raised in the petition.
She said if they won’t do that, they want another motion put forward to address the petition.
Cr Kellander said the council executive needs to follow the governance protocol like all other petitions and write their response to it.
In a show of support for Cr Kellander’s speech at the council meeting, members of the gallery clapped and proceeded to heckle at other councillors. They said that the notice of motion does not address the petition.
Several members of the gallery left before Cr Briffa spoke to the motion.
Cr Briffa spoke to her motion saying that the federal government is already calling for a ceasefire among other government bodies.
She said she has had discussions with various groups in preparation for putting the motion together and she is grateful to the Hobsons Bay community for their input.
A Hobsons Bay council spokesperson said the motion focuses on the wellbeing of all people in the community who are affected by different conflicts around the world, and condemns violence and human rights abuses everywhere.
“On January 17 council met with representatives of both Hobsons Bay 4 Palestine and the Islamic Council of Victoria, these are the groups that have made themselves known to council at this time.”
