A large NSW council will remove indigenous flags after meeting disrupted by far-left activists who accused the mayor of racism and shouted abuse.
Federation Council voted 5-4 late last year to stop displaying the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags from its chambers in Corowa and Urana and from its flagpoles, and for “welcome to country” performances to require approval.
On Tuesday the council met in Urana to finalise the protocols and ended up deadlocked 4-4, but the indigenous flags will still be removed from the council chambers as there has never been a formal resolution to display them.
A second motion was then moved to defer a final decision on the indigenous flag protocols so council can formally engage with its Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group, 7News reported.
Mayor Cheryl Cook, who last year said she supported only flying the Australian flag to promote “civic neutrality”, was repeatedly interrupted by anti-Australian activists who shouted “shame” and “stolen land” as she addressed the meeting.
Ms Cook revealed she had been subjected to “extreme vitriol” online since the November vote, and said “many ratepayers” supported her position, The Border Mail reported.
“[I’ve been] told I’m a disgusting person, that I should resign, that I should leave the country, that I’m racist, a bigot, a neo-Nazi, none of which by the way are true,” she said.
Some aboriginal activists held signs saying “James Cook – Cheryl Cook, same name, shame”, while another responded to Ms Cook’s calls for observers to show respect by walking out and saying “I’m happy to leave, I don’t want to hear this racism”, only to return shortly afterwards.
Councillor David Bott was also heckled by the far-left activists in the public gallery who shouted “shame” as he declared that “regardless of what cultural background, regardless of what religion or political belief, the Australian flag is the only flag that embodies all of us”.
“Flying multiple flags encourages division, resentment, a sense of victimhood and fosters a spirit of disengagement,” he said.
“The Australian flag is the only national flag we have.”
Indigenous activist former Corowa Free Press journalist Adrienne Hartnett, who spoke at the meeting while wearing a T-shirt bearing the anti-Australian slogan “always was, always will be”, said she was “dumbfounded” by the decision to defer.
“They are saying they require more public consultation, but they received 884 responses and they’ve talked to aboriginal elders, how much more consultation do they need?” she asked.
About three-quarters of the public submissions were in favour of retaining the flags after a campaign by far-left social media influencers, who urged residents of the sprawling council, which stretches from Corowa on the Murray River on the Victorian border to Urana in the Riverina region, to weigh in on the proposal.
Of those who responded to the vote on social media on Tuesday, a majority were in favour of removing the indigenous flags, with many simply writing “one flag only”.
“We are ONE NATION, so we should gather under ONE FLAG, the Australian flag encompasses all Australians,” wrote a Corowa resident.
“One flag, one country for all Australians,” a second Aussie wrote.
“Three flags seems divisive to me,” said another.
Federation Council is 97.7% non-indigenous, according to the last Census, and is located in former Opposition leader Sussan Ley’s seat of Farrer, where One Nation is leading in the polls ahead of a by-election forced by Ms Ley’s resignation.
Header image: Left, council members during the meeting. Right, Ms Hartnett and other aboriginal activists (7News).
