A lord mayor has been accused of acting like a ‘schoolgirl’ who didn’t get what she wanted after pushing to have a Voice to council in the wake of the crushing referendum defeat of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Independent Mayor Clover Moore wants the NSW Government to ‘entrench’ an already established Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advisory panel into the Act that regulates Sydney City Council.
Undeterred by the 60 per cent of Australians who voted No in the referendum, the veteran mayor also wants council to ‘progress’ Voice manifesto The Uluru Statement from the Heart.
‘Now is the time to demonstrate continued solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, leaders and communities by continuing to engage with them as our work continues,’ Cllr Moore said on Monday.
City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore is pushing for her council to have an Indigenous Voice enshrined
Liberal Councillor Shaun Jarrett has accused Cllr Moore of acting like a ‘school head girl who didn’t get what she wanted’.
‘She told us all we were morally reprehensible for voting not to support what she wanted us to do,’ Cllr Jarrett told Sydney radio station 2GB.
‘She said that she saw ugly Trumpian tactics and harmful misinformation that played to people’s fears and gave rise to racism.’
Cllr Jarrett said the Sydney City’s Indigenous advisory panel had already been operating for 15 years.
‘In my time on council we have never actually had a report from them, so a lot of it is about ticking the box,’ she said.
Talkback host Ben Fordham suggested that because the council area bucked the national trend and delivered around a 70 per cent Yes vote in favour of the Voice, Cllr Moore could claim to have a mandate.
However, Cllr Jarrett said that was unnecessary.
‘She doesn’t need that mandate. She already has an advisory panel in place, go ahead and use it properly, consult with them, enable what they would like to see done in our local communities in the city of Sydney,’ she said.
‘Don’t go around virtue signally because she didn’t get what she wanted.’
Sydney City Council spent an estimated $500,000 on promoting the Indigenous Voice to Parliament
Liberal Sydney City Council member Shauna Jarrett has slammed Lord Mayor Clover Moore for ‘virtue signalling’ with plans to establish an Indigenous Voice to Council
City of Sydney Council spent at least a half-a-million dollars of ratepayer money backing the Yes vote, but Cllr Jarrett said she couldn’t sure of the total until an audit she requested was completed.
The package included $260,000 for a communications and engagement campaign, $160,000 for banners and up to $90,000 to support community events in landmark council venues such as Town Hall.
‘It will be an awful lot of cash and donations in kind which could have been spent on Indigenous communities and other communities in the city of Sydney,’ Cllr Jarrett said.
In August it was revealed the council had also gifted Yes supporters $25,000 of free office space in the city’s CBD to help with their campaign.
The Yes23 team set up operations in prime CBD real estate in the form of Town Hall House on Kent Street for three months under the agreement with the council.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
Content source – www.soundhealthandlastingwealth.com
