MidCoast Councillor Mick Graham moves to stop welcome to, acknowledgment of country

A recently elected Mid-North Coast Libertarian councillor will attempt to abolish the organisation’s Indigenous welcome to and acknowledgement of country practices, it can be revealed.

MidCoast councillor Michael (Mick) Graham wants to put an end to welcomes and acknowledgments to country at council meetings.

A Mid-North Coast Libertarian councillor swept to power at the last local government elections will attempt to abolish the organisation’s Indigenous welcome to and acknowledgement of country practices, it can be revealed.

Support for the party was strong in the MidCoast electorate which takes in the major towns of Taree, Forster and Gloucester.

Lead candidate Michael Graham and two of his Libertarian running mates, Phillip Beazley and Mal McKenzie, were elected to the 11-person council in September last year.

Some fellow councillors and senior staff were taken aback when all three refused to stand for the traditional acknowledgment to country prior to their first meeting in October.

They’ve refused to stand at all in subsequent meetings.

Newly elected MidCoast councillor Michael Graham.

Now Mr Graham wants to make it official and has moved a motion to be debated at their Wednesday meeting to discontinue the practice of a welcome to – and acknowledgment of – country at all future council meetings and all other “council constituted meetings as well as in all communications including emails”.

Deputy Mayor Jeremy Miller has indicated he won’t be supporting the move and several of his fellow councillors are currently being lobbied to do the same.

“The Libertarians ran on a policy of roads, rates and rubbish but they keep bringing up these social issues,” Mr Miller said.

Jeremy Miller MidCoast council candidate.

He says it was a very busy time for council and these types of motions distract councillors from their core business.

In the wake of the Libertarians’ refusal to stand, there was a fierce backlash from some sectors of the community including prominent Indigenous Elder and pastor Russell Saunders, who said the councillors who did not stand “failed to show basic respect for our culture and our beliefs as the first people of this land”.

Taree's Russell Saunders has been disappointed that several newly elected MidCoast Councillors have refused to stand for the acknowledgment to country at their regular meetings.

Mr Saunders thanked the councillors who stand for the acknowledgment.

“I know our people are appreciative of that. Your actions, at least, lighten some of the heartache we have had in the past in our fight for justice to be recognised as human beings in the country we have lived in for thousands of years,” he said.

MidCoast Councillor Mal McKenzie

Mal McKenzie made no apology for his wish to support the motion, claiming the practices are “racist and divisive”.

“It’s a ridiculous concept,” Mr McKenzie said.

“No insult is meant to Aboriginal people at all.”

He claimed the majority of people he had spoken to agree with his stance and have thanked him for showing leadership.

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Originally published as MidCoast Councillor Mick Graham moves to stop welcome to, acknowledgment of country