Federation mayor, Cheryl Cook listens to the public gallery at this week’s meeting to consider amendments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocols.
A draft proposal to amend protocols and remove the Indigenous and Torres Strait Island flags from Federation Council chambers has generated the highest volume of submissions ever received in a community consultation period.
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But even though 78 per cent of the 884 respondents opposed the changes, the flags will come down, for now.
The council’s November meeting sparked a controversy that made national and international news when a tight 5-4 vote supported amendments to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocols, which would see the flags removed and Welcome to Country ceremonies needing approval by Council resolution.
At the time, mayor Cheryl Cook said her view was informed by many conversations she’d had with residents and “very strong feedback” that council should seek a more unified culture, and civic neutrality under one flag.
However, the community consultation showed a different story.
Formal submissions came from all over Australia with one respondent saying they heard about the decision on the news in Seattle, USA.
Of those, 266 came from within Federation Shire and showed more than 70 per cent were opposed to the changes.
Just 11.5 per cent supported removing the flags with 10.5 per cent either incomplete or neutral.
It may have been a faux pas, and met with disapproval from the public gallery, but Mayor Cheryl Cook’s comment, ‘It’s not black, it’s not white’ summed up yesterday’s Federation Council meeting.
About 40 people attended the public gallery to hear the outcome of this week’s debate.
Cr David Bott’s original motion to adopt the amendments was defeated 4-4, with Cr Derek Schoen abstaining, therefore counting as an opposing vote.
But in the end, councillors voted 4-3 (Cr Black abstained) to defer a final decision to allow for more engagement with Council’s Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group to ensure that all protocols aligned with the finalised plan and to allow for further conversations with the local Aboriginal community.
The decision was met with a loud outcry from about 40 people in the public gallery and opposition from Cr David Harrison who said Council was doing what Council does best, and “kicking the problem down the road”.
“To be honest, when someone tells me that they see the First Nations flags as divisive, I just think, well, it's not the flag that's an issue here,” Cr Harrison said.
“We've asked for public feedback and to now ignore those responses would make a mockery ... to take that away, just because we can, is not reasonable and serves no purpose other than to push back against social cohesion.”
Cr Bott, who believed three flags encouraged division and resentment, said records showed that the flags were installed in Council chambers in 2022 as part of citizenship ceremonies where it is a requirement to have the three flags.
He said the community was not consulted before placing the flags in chambers and asked who decided that they should remain there permanently.
General manager, Adrian Butler confirmed the flags were not installed by councillor resolution, and it was this point, that sealed the need to remove the flags, for the time being.
Deputy mayor, Rowena Black told the meeting it was clear that the majority, “however way you slice it”, were supportive of keeping the flags.
She said that in all the conversations she’d had, and the range of views she’d heard from the community, the most common message was that people wanted councillors to focus on the work of Council and doing that well.
“As councillors, we have been entrusted with making decisions that move our community forward, and there are many, many urgent issues facing our council,” Cr Black said.
“Our community expects us to focus on improving our infrastructure, strengthening our financial stability, completing the flood study, increasing planning output, activating the Ball Park Caravan Park, seeing the way forward for the Corowa airport, repairing our roads, and supporting our main street retail and other businesses.”
But she argued that acknowledging the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, alongside the Australian flag, simply recognised another important part of our shared history.
The meeting was tense with emotions close to the surface throughout.
“These two flags represent the first peoples of this land, the communities who lived here for tens of thousands of years before the British arrived in 1788,” she said.
“Acknowledging that history is not something we should fear, it is simply an honest recognition of the full story of Australia.
“For many Aboriginal people, that history includes significant hardship and suffering, and a mature and confident nation should be able to acknowledge that truth while also being proud of the country we have all built together.”
As emotions threatened to disrupt the meeting, Cr Cook needed to remind some members of the public gallery that if they continued to interrupt, she would have them removed.
She said she expected some push back after the November meeting, but what she wasn’t expecting was the extreme vitriol she’d received from dissenters and activists.
“I'm very well aware where it came from; I've watched the (social media),” she said.
“I've watched everything, the verbal and written intimidation to me, being personally told that I am a disgusting person, that I should resign, that I should leave the country, that I'm racist, a bigot, a neo-Nazi.
