Parramatta Council meeting adjourned after Benjamin Barrak question
Residents flocked to a western Sydney town hall for a heritage issue but instead witnessed “the most difficult meeting this chamber has seen’’.
Parramatta
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Rebel councillor Benjamin Barrak briefly hinted about taking Parramatta Council to the Supreme Court again after a long, heated meeting.
Wednesday night’s extraordinary meeting at Parramatta Town Hall was due to discuss amendments to the Parramatta CBD planning proposal and its impacts on the North and south Parramatta heritage conservation areas.
The meeting stretched for 2 ½ hours — without addressing the matter at all.
Instead, it was adjourned several times while council officers discussed legalities around declarations of interest after Cr Barrak wanted to be exempt from the rules.
Under rules, Cr Barrak is not allowed to vote on the
CBD planning proposal because he owns properties in North Parramatta and Harris Park.
Cr Barrak declared he was staying in the meeting despite being absent from previous council meetings when the issue had been raised because of the conflict of interest.
Despite a suggestion to adjourn the meeting to next week, Cr Barrak insisted the matter on the business paper had to be dealt with that night “and I’m strongly advising that that happens because if it doesn’t happen, there’s going to be consequences”.
Deputy Lord Mayor Michelle Garrard called for the meeting to be adjourned to Monday so the council could seek clarifications about declarations of interest.
“We’ve been here since 7 o’clock,’’ she said close to 9.30pm.
“I really think we’re in disrepute. I think the chamber has not clearly articulated moving forward and the only thing we can do at this point in time is a adjourn it...
“This is the most difficult meeting the chamber has seen.’’
When the mayor had to casting vote to adjourn the meeting, Cr Barrak repetitively said “I move dissent in the chair” before stating “I’ll be in the Supreme Court tomorrow.”
He said he called dissent towards the mayor “on the way that you have conducted this meeting, on you putting forward this last motion for using your casting vote...”
“This meeting has been gamed to achieve an outcome,’’ he said.
“That’s the dissent in the chair and you’ve utilised your position and your casting vote to game it.”
Parramatta resident Kevin Wu, who was at the meeting on Wednesday with neighbours, said they urged Cr Barrak to follow the council’s code of conduct.
“It is councillor’s obligation and onus to prove no conflict of interest without doubt, whether is direct or indirect interest,’’ he said.
“As ratepayers, we want to know council’s procedure in dealing with this matter in order to protect fairness in the Parramatta CBD planning proposal.’’
A Parramatta Council spokesman said the code of conduct obligated council officials to declare pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests.
“The code provides steps for a council official to identify and declare any interest they may have in a matter before the council,’’ he said.
“It is up to each councillor to disclose any interest they may have at the meeting the matter is considered.
“It is entirely up to each councillor to make their own decision. Council officers do not have the power to remove a councillor from a council meeting at any time.”
Wednesday’s meeting comes after Cr Barrak was ejected from a February 20 council meeting because he called then mayor Andrew Wilson a clown and insulted a council legal representative.
He took legal action and partially won his appeal against the council in the Supreme Court in September after it found Cr Barrak was only required to apologise for calling Cr Wilson a clown but not three other matters.