MIXED VOICES, SHABBY STREETS & SPIN

THE City of Fremantle last night voted to spend $35,500 to support the ‘Yes’ campaign for a First Nations Voice to Parliament on the day the Federal Government moved to include support for a ‘No’ campaign.
Debate on the controversial issue that has been a talking point in Fremantle since it was proposed at FPOL two weeks ago included questions over whether the City was acting unlawfully under the Local Government Act.
Only Crs Marija Vujcic and Fedele Camarda voted against using ratepayer funds to run a local awareness campaign advocating why people should support the referendum expected later this year.
Cr Vujcic asked CEO Glen Dougall whether the proposed, “misapplication of funds and property”, was illegal under the Local Government Act, “especially know that we know the Federal Government and Parliament has taken the lead”.
She added, “any duplication of resources by local government in funding issues that is the domain of state and federal governments is not permitted. Does this motion contravene the Act?”
Mr Dougall replied: “Under the Local Government Act, the roles and functions of a local government are to make decisions based on what they think is best for the people in the district. Part A of the Act is how we apply our resources and whether or not they have been approved properly under the Act.”
Cr Vujcic said ratepayers can make up their own mind on whether to support the Voice.
Cr Camarda, who also did not support the item at FPOL, supported the Voice, “However, as I expressed at FPOL, I don’t believe we should be spending ratepayer’s dollars for this, particularly in the current climate.
“As highlighted by the announcement at federal level today of a bipartisan deal to set up the structures for holding this referendum, there are other ways for people to obtain funding to promote their view. This is a Commonwealth referendum and I don’t think ratepayers should be funding campaigns advocating one way or the other.”
Public question time was dominated by voices against the City’s motion. Only one question supported it: “The Voice is exactly what local government should endorse and support.”
Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge said the motion followed a request by local Indigenous elders to help raise awareness in the community, “We’re not providing funding for any campaign so we’re supporting the Voice to Parliament. This is not some bandwagon, politically motivated thing. This is a long-held position of council.
“When they they ask us for a very moderate amount of money … (it’s) less than half of what we spend on dog poo bags, closer to a third.
“I’m not going to be the person to tell them that yet again, like they have been told so many times over the last 200 years, that what they want is not a priority.”

Tricky wording

City Ward Cr Adin Lang asked the director of community development whether elected members were voting on funding the awareness campaign on the referendum or the yes vote.
“That’s a tricky question,” she said.
“What are we making people aware of, the referendum or the way to vote?”
“I think I’m misunderstanding your question. Could you clarify it one more time, my hearing doesn’t help. We are supporting the yes campaign.
City Ward Cr Rachel Pemberton said: “I’m not sure how the City can do these things without resources, $35,500 doesn’t go very far in local government, especially not in infrastructure. You might get a metre of paving.” She noted the City spends $1.9m a year in cleaning the CBD, which equated to $36,500 a week.
“So for the same cost of cleaning the CBD for one week we can be part of a really important national conversation. I think this is something our community wants.” (The budget review includes cutting funding for street sweeping by $87,000).
Continuing with the mathematical justifications, Cr Su Groome said $35,500 sounds like a lot of money, but after calculations by Cr Archibald and herself, “it’s about 0.0004 of our budget or something like that.
“By my calculations, it’s $2 a year for our ratepayers. I’m satisfied that is a reasonable investment. it doesn’t mean people have to vote differently, it is not politicising it.”
Hilton Cr Ben Lawver, who helped draft the motion, said, “this is a big sticking point in the community”, adding, “this was never about giving any donation to any campaign”.
South Ward Cr Andrew Sullivan said he was frustrated it was not the City’s core business: “When your heart is so committed to this particular outcome or these outcomes, this is a little tiny step in reconciliation.”
Deputy mayor Frank Mofflin said: “We are not telling anyone how to vote as part of this process. What we are saying this is what has been requested of the Australian people from the First Nations people.”
Beaconsfield Cr Geoff Graeme said it was a, “tough one”. He asked whether the item had passed the pub test and said over the past two weeks he had visited Gino’s, Norfolk and Ruocco’s where people urged him not to waste money.
Even in his own household, family urged him to spend money on ‘shabby’ Queen Victoria Street or disadvantaged women in Fremantle.
He said the City threw away hundreds of thousands of dollars on projects and while $35,500 is a lot of money, ultimately people can vote no if they did not support the Voice.
“What is being proposed is not a flag waving exercise.”
Cr Vujcic said people in Fremantle wouldn’t have any problems with the reasons stated in the motion except, “it only talks to itself”.
“What are we going to get for it?” she asked the mayor.
“I’m going to take that as a rhetorical question and I’m going to caution the tone used to answer that question,” the mayor replied.
“Excuse me …”
“You’ve spoken during the debate.”
“And you,” Cr Vujcic persisted, “have not been clear in the way you’ve presented the material”.
The mayor for the Voice then demanded: “I ask you to turn off your microphone.”