‘Can you just shut up?’: Cumberland Council meeting descends into screaming match

An extraordinary screaming match has erupted at a Sydney council meeting after a local member told his female colleague to “shut up when I’m talking”.

An extraordinary screaming match has erupted at a western Sydney council meeting after a local member told his female colleague to “shut up when I’m talking”.

Labor Mayor Ola Hamed was forced to call a 15-minute adjournment during Cumberland City Council’s meeting on Wednesday night after the shocking row exploded between Ahmed Ouf and Diane Colman, who leapt to her feet and screamed, “You cannot speak to me like that!”

Cr Ouf, an independent, was speaking in support of a motion about the city’s 2026 Easter Extravaganza nearly two hours into the meeting, when he hit out at apparent interjections from the Labor councillor.

“Can you just shut up when I’m talking, OK?” Cr Ouf snapped.

“I beg your pardon, Councillor,” Mayor Hamed interjected.

Cumberland City Council’s Wednesday meeting descended into chaos. Picture: Supplied

“When I’m talking this is my time, not your time,” Cr Ouf told Cr Colman. “When I talk, you shut up, OK?”

“Oh, point of order, Mayor, point of order!” Cr Colman called out.

Cr Ouf asked, “Why is she talking while I’m talking? Why is she taking from my time?”

Cr Colman yelled back across the chamber, “How dare you!”

Cr Ouf hit back, “You just keep your mouth shut while I’m talking. I never, ever spoke when you were talking or having time.”

At that point Cr Colman leapt to her feet and exploded.

“You cannot speak to me like that!” she screamed.

“You show respect! You show respect!” Cr Ouf yelled back.

“You show me some respect!” Cr Colman went on. “How dare you speak to me like that! How dare you!”

Cr Ouf said he was “not intimidated, not 100 of you”.

Councillors Ahmed Ouf and Diane Colman. Picture: Supplied

Cr Colman screamed again, “How dare you? Who you think you’re speaking to?”

Cr Ouf told her, “Then show respect so you can be respected. When I’m talking, you stay shut.”

Mayor Hamed then called an adjournment.

“This isn’t the first time women councillors have been publicly disrespected at Cumberland Council, as you can see by my reaction,” Cr Colman told news.com.au on Friday.

“There’s been a pattern of bad behaviour towards women on our council for a very long time.”

She noted that a 2023 survey by the Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA), where she sits on the board, found 61 per cent of female councillors had experienced bullying and harassment.

“This is a direct demonstration of the misogyny that’s endemic in our society,” she said.

“For too long women in leadership have had to put up with it.”

Cr Colman said there were “three or four people” who had attempted to correct a comment by Cr Ouf but “he singled me out”.

“I was very shocked because I’ve never had anything but cordial dealings with Cr Ouf,” she said.

“I think he really showed his true colours.”

Cr Ouf insisted that it “has nothing to do with gender, the get-out-of-jail-free card which is misogyny”.

He conceded he “should have used another word” but said his comment to “shut up” was “in the heat of the moment”.

“She started interrupting me, harassing me while I’m speaking,” he told news.com.au.

“All I wanted was just let me speak, respect me, I respect you, give me my time, do not interrupt. This has nothing to do with skin colour or gender. If she did not interrupt me or harass me I would not have done what I’ve done. You can go back to my record, I’ve never interrupted or harassed any of my colleagues trying to cut them down.”

Cr Ouf added he was interrupted “while speaking on behalf of a minority”, the religious group Falun Dafa, who experience persecution in China.

He said a Falun Dafa woman who was present, the only member of the public in the gallery, was left in tears by the scene.

“I support everyone, I love everyone, I respect everyone,” he said.

Councillor Steve Christou. Picture: 7News

Libertarian Councillor Steve Christou, who shared a viral clip of the blow-up on social media, has sided with Cr Ouf.

He claimed Cr Colman “was interjecting during his speech”.

“Mind you, no one was interjecting Cr Colman all night,” he told news.com.au.

“I’ve previously had run-ins before with Cr Colman interjecting [during] my speeches. Yes, Ahmed told her to shut up in frustration, but Cr Colman had a meltdown of epic proportions. It continued after the camera went off. Quite frankly it created a very unhealthy and unsafe workplace environment, not just for councillors but for the poor staff who had to witness this behaviour and work through it.”

Cr Christou said it was unclear exactly what the alleged interjections were about.

“She was making some kind of remarks, they were a bit inaudible,” he said.

“She claims she was trying to correct him on something he had stated. He was speaking on the Easter motion but then he turned his attention to Falun Dafa and whether we should acknowledge it in Cumberland or not. I think he was questioned on ‘why are you raising Falun Dafa’. But she was interjecting, speaking while he was speaking. In all honesty you can’t just stir something up and instigate an issue and then claim misogyny.”

Cr Christou said in “any other workplace there would have been disciplinary action and instant dismissal”.

“This needs to be looked into, you can’t rug pull it, someone has to speak up,” he said.

“I’ve previously raised concerns about behaviours. At some point, just because you’re in the public sphere doesn’t mean you get a free pass to do what you want. No other workplace would tolerate this type of behaviour.”

Cr Christou said Cumberland ratepayers “deserve better”, particularly after a 7.1 per cent rate hike last month.

Mayor Hamed has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as ‘Can you just shut up?’: Cumberland Council meeting descends into screaming match