Statue vandalism: NSW parliament censures Greens Mp David Shoebridge
Both sides of the aisle have united to censure Greens MP David Shoebridge for failing to condemn the actions of his staffer Xiaoran Shi, who is accused of defacing a Captain Cook statue.
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STATE Parliament’s upper house has censured Greens MP David Shoebridge for his actions in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests.
In a rare show of unity, Coalition and Labor members voted together to rebuke Mr Shoebridge for failing to condemn a part-time staff member who allegedly defaced a statue of Captain Cook in Hyde Park.
The censure motion passed the Upper House on Tuesday afternoon, 31 votes to six. The Greens, Independent Justin Field, and the Animal Justice Party unsuccessfully opposed the motion.
In moving the censure motion, Government Upper House leader Damien Tudehope said Mr Shoebridge should condemn his staffer over alleged wrongdoing.
“Any failure to do so is a failure to uphold our responsibilities as members,” he said.
One Nation Leader Mark Latham said the staff member, Xiaoran Shi, should be sacked.
“Clearly you shouldn’t work in the parliament of NSW if you’re going out of your way to break the laws of the parliament of NSW,” he said.
But Ms Shi will escape any rebuke from Mr Shoebridge over the graffiti allegations.
“I will not be sacking my staff member for what she did,” he said.
“I am deeply regretful of the kinds of attacks she has seen.”
As part of the censure motion, the Upper House also rebuked Mr Shoebridge for travelling almost 500 kilometres to a regional Indigenous community just two days after attending a mass protest in Sydney’s CBD.
The Daily Telegraph first revealed Mr Shoebridge travelled to the Nambucca State Forest after a Black Lives Matter rally on June 6.
The government’s upper house leader said the travel “is both ironic and contemptuous ... because the protest which Mr Shoebridge attended was for Black Lives Matter”.
“Mr Shoebridge ought to be well aware from the findings of the Closing the Gap report, the effects of chronic illnesses in Aboriginal communities is multiple times worse than those of wider Australia,” Mr Tudehope said.
Mr Latham said the travel was “reckless”.
But Mr Shoebridge said he attended the anti-logging protest with the indigenous community because local elders had asked him to come.
“When I went there they knew I had been to the Black Lives Matter … rally, and they thanked me for the work I did,” he said.
In debate opposing the motion, Mr Shoebridge and his Greens colleagues attacked The Daily Telegraph for its coverage of the Black Lives Matter rallies, the logging protest, and the vandalism of the Captain Cook statue.
The Greens staffer under fire from for allegedly spray painting “no pride in genocide” and “sovereignty never ceded” onto a Captain Cook statue failed to speak up on Sunday when approached by The Daily Telegraph.
Xiaoran Shi declined to comment when approached outside her inner west home as both sides of politics called for her boss, Greens MP David Shoebridge, to reprimand her for her vandalism of a public statue.
Shi, who works for Mr Shoebridge part time, allegedly defaced the Hyde Park statue in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday called for Mr Shoebridge to condemn the vandalism and apologise.
“Mr Shoebridge should come forward and express that it's not okay to break the law, and his staff member shouldn't have engaged in this activity,” she said.
Yesterday Mr Shoebridge merely repeated the comment he made on Sunday that Ms Shi was not at work at the time of the alleged incident.
“I will not be making any further comment on the matter as it is currently before the courts,” the statement said.
It’s understood government MPs are considering using parliament to force Mr Shoebridge to hand over any information about whether his staff member organised Friday’s illegal protest while working on the taxpayer’s dollar.
“At the very least he needs to express regret and apologise for what's occurred, whether or not the person undertook this activity during work hours is irrelevant,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“Does he tolerate this type of breaking the law or not?”
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Labor leader Jodi McKay echoed the government’s calls, saying Mr Shoebridge should discipline his staff member.
“It's up to him as to how he disciplines his staff, but if it was one of my staffers they wouldn't have a job,” she said.
In a separate vandalism incident, a Captain Cook statue in Randwick was also defaced over the weekend.
Police are appealing for information about the graffiti, which occurred on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday.
Ms Berejiklian yesterday said anyone charged with defacing a statue could face up to five years in jail as well as a hefty fine under existing penalties.
But she said the government is prepared to look at tougher penalties.
“If we do need to go further, we will – but I do want to stress that the existing penalties are quite severe,” she said.
Meanwhile a photo of Winston Churchill that had disappeared from Google searches has been reinstated.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the tech giant said the image vanished in late April due to a technical error.
Originally published as Statue vandalism: NSW parliament censures Greens Mp David Shoebridge
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