Inner West councillors say no disrespect intended after Queen’s portrait taken down during meeting
Two Sydney councillors say no disrespect was intended after a portrait of the Queen was removed from a wall in council chambers during a meeting this week.
NSW
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Two Sydney Labor councillors have been accused of acting disrespectfully toward the late Queen Elizabeth II, after a portrait of her was removed from a wall during a council meeting this week.
Inner West independent councillor John Stomolis has hit it against councillors Tim Stephens and Mayor Darcy Byrne, following what he dubbed as “insensitive” behaviour during a meeting of council on Tuesday night.
During a short break in the meeting, Clr Stephens removed a portrait of the Queen from the wall of the chamber.
He handed the picture to the council’s general manager, before Mayor Darcy Byrne could be heard saying “it’s redundant now – it’s not like you’re giving away an asset.”
Laughter could be heard in the chamber, before a female voice was heard saying “be respectful”.
“It was highly insensitive and disrespectful especially during this time of mourning,” Clr Stomolis said.
“I was thinking at the time, is anyone going to pull this up?”
The council is in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s federal seat of Grayndler.
Mr Stomolis also condemned Mayor Darcy Byrne’s behaviour.
“Flippancy like this from the leader of the Inner West community is appalling,” he said of Mr Byrne’s comment.
“We have a PM who is running a republican debate but at the same time he is being very respectful, going to the funeral and declaring a public holiday.
“The PM would want the councillors to have the same level of respect.”
However, Clr Stephens said he meant “no disrespect”, and that at the time, believed the portrait should be taken down following King Charles’ proclamation.
“In light of the Queen’s passing and the accession of the new King, I thought it appropriate and respectful in a period of official mourning that the Queen’s portrait be removed from display in the Council Chamber,” he said.
“No disrespect was intended and no Councillor expressed any view to me that it was disrespectful.”
Clr Byrne said his comments about the portrait no longer being “an asset” were in response to the general manager’s statement that his wife would like it.
“During the meeting the general manager remarked to me in passing that his wife would be very happy to have the portrait of the Queen when it was no longer in public use and I remarked that the portrait, once no longer in use, would not be a Council ‘asset’, as such,” he said.
Earlier in the meeting, Clr Byrne tabled a motion of condolence for the Queen, which was not supported by two Greens councillors – Marghanita Da Cruz and Dylan Griffiths.
The portrait of Queen Elizabeth was returned to the wall following the meeting, and Clr Byrne said advice was being sought on protocol.
“We were unsure as to when the Queen’s portraits were to be replaced with the new King Charles portrait,” he said.
“We will seek advice from the Commonwealth on this protocol and adhere strictly to it. The Queen’s portrait remains hung in the Council Chamber now.”
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