‘Widening the gap’: Welcome to country divides Far North council
Debate over Cairns Regional Council’s revised welcome and acknowledgement of country has stirred councillors with some calling for the practice to be scrapped entirely.
Debate over Cairns Regional Council’s revised welcome to country and acknowledgement policy has stirred councillors with some calling for the practice to be scrapped entirely.
But the council’s only First Nations councillor has defended the custom, declaring it a mark of respect to Aboriginal and Torres Islander cultures with the updated policy passed in a 7-3 vote.
Division Four councillor, Trevor Tim, expressed frustration that the ritual, performed at formal events, had become so divisive.
“It’s like a broken record, closing the gap,” Mr Tim, who has Aboriginal and Torres Strait heritage, said.
“Here we are widening the gap when talking about acknowledgement of the people.
A welcome to country recognised the city’s strong First Nations community, Mr Tim said.
“We are leading the way in regard to the population of Indigenous people in Cairns at 10 per cent,” he said.
“That’s higher than any other city this size in the country. So we should be leading from the front.”
Division Two councillor Matthew Tickner said he didn’t believe the council should provide any welcome or acknowledgement at events or ceremonies.
“It won’t shock anyone in this chamber when I say I cannot work through changes to a policy I don’t believe should exist in the first place,” Mr Tickner said.
“I’ll always push back on policy that requires me and every other resident in Cairns to be welcomed as a guest in their own country.
“It’s not right in my opinion.”
The failed Voice to Parliament campaign had set reconciliation across Australia back, Division One councillor Brett Moller said.
“If we’re doing an acknowledgement … acknowledging my brother Trevor (Tim) and all of the brothers I grew up with playing cricket, footy, spearfishing in the Mulgrave (River), it should be inclusive.
“It’s my personal view, that if we’re having an acknowledgement, we acknowledge the traditional owners as the original custodians of the land upon which we meet, recognising their connection to country.
“We acknowledge the early settlers colonising our lands, enabling trade and commerce to flourish and communities to grow.
“We acknowledge those others who have travelled from across the sea adding to the multiculturalism of our nation.”
Mr Tim offered a solution for those who didn’t want to engage in the practice in the future.
“If you do not want to acknowledge (country), walk out of the room, come back in after,” he said. “That’s a term of disrespect is what I feel, but respecting your opinion as well.”
WHAT THE COUNCILLORS SAID ON WELCOME TO COUNTRY
Cathy Zeiger (Division Three)
I have no issues at all with paying my respect to the First Nations people of this country. I don’t think we should do it in a tokenistic way. There should be some guidelines if you’re going to participate and only be there if you want to be there.
Anna Middleton (Division Seven)
My biggest concern is if you try to excise these ideas out of our general business then also you have to consider what hurt you might be creating. We have a long history in this country of causing hurt. I want to recognise that by doing something as simple as acknowledging the country which we stand on, and the First Nations people of which there is 60,000 years of history, of which I am very proud. Rather than trying to be divisive perhaps we should be more inclusive.
Brett Olds (Deputy Mayor)
We’ve got a community of 176,000 residents and ratepayers and, unless we do a referendum, or at least a survey with a strictly independent person, I don’t think we should be doing the welcome to country at all. I’d love to scrap it. We wouldn’t be the first council in the country to do it because I think as a country, our nation has seen this. It’s terrible as it was. We should keep our vision on what we’re doing for the ratepayers of Cairns to benefit them. Not just rates, roads and rubbish, but with our aquatic strategies, our events and everything else. But this is not something that I think the majority of our ratepayers want us wasting our time on.
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Originally published as ‘Widening the gap’: Welcome to country divides Far North council
