Councillors Kim Turner, Cecil Burgess and Jim Abbey were the undersigned Councillors for rescission motion 168/22 from the previous month’s Yass Valley Council meeting. The motion from the July meeting resolved, “That the Aboriginal flag be permanently flown together with the National flag at the front of the Memorial Hall.”
The new motion was set down in the business paper as, “THAT: 1. Any action relating to the flying of the Aboriginal flag be deferred pending full consideration with all parties concerned. 2. A report on possible sites and options that may be available and the full cost of any such option be brought to Council before further consideration of the matter.”
Councillor Turner Spoke first and stated that he was on 3 of the committees that he believed should have been consulted on the matter before it was brought before Council in the first place. He said,
“Social media has leapt on board, this has been manipulated and the social media frenzy that has been brought about by this has been horrendous.”
Councillor Turner continued to state that the ‘Aboriginal’ flag had been flown at the Memorial Hall on many, many, many occasions. He said we didn’t ask the people, we didn’t ask the community… We need to have a rescission motion to set us back to where we were a month ago, and then we can do it properly and discuss it with the people….”
Ngunnawal elders raise the flag at the recent NAIDOC week ceremony as the Mayor, some councillors, local police representatives and the community look on.
Councillor Cameron took aim at Councillor Turner, where he made 3 points. He said,
“We were elected by the Yass Valley Community to make decisions on the Yass Valley Communities’ behalf….. One of the things that impressed me was that when Council backed a decision, they went back out in the community and supported it. His second point focussed on the current Labor prime Minister’s ‘Voice to Parliament’ as well as the State Premier and the costing of the Flag at a state level.
The third point focused on how Yass Valley would be perceived outside of the community. He said, “It’s an issue people are concerned about outside of the community and if we are looking at population growth as the future for this community we have to think about what our image is and if it’s positive or negative.”
Councillor Reid spoke of reconciliation and the War Memorial. He said,
“We did not consult, and we should have….What are we going to do if we rewind this and what next?…. We didn’t look at the logistics etc… We didn’t have a proper ceremony. The flag pole is meant to fly different flags on different days. I’m all in favour of the flag flying, and so are the people I talk to.”
Councillor Jasmin Jones said,
“Just because you don’t like it doesn’t make it wrong.” Jones highlighted that there are names missing, indigenous names missing of aboriginal men who fought for their country when they were still regarded as fauna. She highlighted that the rescission motion only came up when the flag was flown.She said, “You cannot take away what you have given in that, that does more damage to every single one of us in the Yass Valley than anything else and like our open forum speakers have said, do more not less.”
She said do not take down that respect for which you have gained. “What stuck in my mind was an indigenous man’s comments who has always been quite critical of Council. His words in capital letters were RESPECT with love hearts from a real fighting man. That spoke to me volumes.”
The Aboriginal flag on its first night of ‘permanent flying’ earlier this month – a decision reversed for the time being by a majority of councillors
Councillor Cayla Pothan followed and said that she supported the rescission motion on the basis of it being no community consultation and this being a procedural thing. She said,
“The original motion to me was made quickly, poorly, without ceremony, discussion or consultation. I did support the motion in principle and I do regret not speaking up.” She went on to state she looked forward to consulting with the many groups involved in the decision-making process.
Councillor Kristin Butler then spoke about the comments she had heard which had dark undertones, including statements such as “I’ll take the flag down and I’ll burn it.” She disagreed that it was an authoritative decision stating, “that is Putin that is Hitler, not our retired book shop and toy shop owner Mayor McGrath”….
“To say that no community consultation was undertaken is untrue and one that I take offence at and indicates I failed to do my job…Who’s to say that I didn’t speak to 350 people in July.”
Councillor Cecil Burgess was brief in his remarks stating,
“Vote for the rescission motion, it’s the right thing to do, consult with the people before we do anything.”
Councillor Turner was given the right of reply where he stated the only colour that matters in the ADF is the colour of the uniform, speaking on behalf of a current serving ADF member.
The rescission motion was carried 5-4, with Burgess, Pothan, Reid, Abbey and Turner voting in favour while Jones, Butler, Cameron and McGrath were against.
This meant that the flag was to come down.
However, with no mover or seconder listed, Councillor Cameron asked for the motion to be cancelled, however, the Chair disagreed and called for a mover of the motion in the business paper unless someone wants to come up with something a bit different.
Councillor Jones spoke up and moved an alternative motion
“That Council continues to fly the aboriginal flag outside the Yass Soldiers’ Memorial Hall while community consultation is undertaken, including identifying any need for additional flag poles in the CBD. The consultation process results are to be the basis of the reports to Council for consideration and to inform the Main Street master planning.”
Some 50 minutes in total, and the matter was settled for now.
