Stonnington Councillors furious after mayor shuts down debate
Furious councillors in Melbourne’s leafy inner east have shut up shop for a fortnight after the mayor enacted a local law during a meeting that caused an “unprecedented blackout of discussion”. But the leader has hit back.
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Angry Stonnington councillors have stormed out of town hall and shut down debate for two weeks amid claims they are being gagged.
The fury erupted at a meeting earlier this week, when Mayor Steve Stefanopoulos ruled out in-chamber debate unless councillors declared opposition to an issue prior to the meeting.
But Cr Stefanopoulos, who denies the gag claim, told the Leader he was only enacting an existing local law on meeting procedure.
He said the law was “ludicrous” and would call on the chief executive to review it.
“I’m not trying to gag anyone,” he said.
Cr Glen Atwell, who was behind the push to adjourn the meeting for two weeks until “the gag” was lifted, took to social media to air his disgust, posting a photo of an empty council chambers, captioning it:
“See those empty seats? That’s your hard earned rate dollars being wasted! The #Stonnington Council chamber at 8.15pm on the night of a council meeting. EMPTY!”
“It’s incredibly disappointing and we feel gagged as councillors. The mayor didn’t even discuss this change with us — the local law uses the word ‘may’ not ‘must’,” Cr Atwell said.
“This was the darkest night in Stonnington’s history as it was an unprecedented blackout of discussion.”
Cr Atwell said the mayor’s new way of working meant the council’s new Disability Access and Inclusion Plan, was not discussed on the night.
“This is a deep insult to our dedicated disability community and council officers.”
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Cr Marcia Griffin said she was disheartened by the meeting procedure, saying ratepayers would suffer.
Stonnington Ratepayers Association president Dean Hurlston accused the mayor of “again displaying contempt for ratepayers, shutting down councillor debate and effectively gagging them.”
“Stonnington Council is on the nose with scandals of foreign aid, project costs blowouts, class actions by traders and legal action from residents,” Mr Hurlston said.