Self-absorbed Merri-bek councillors should focus on local issues instead of Israel war

Self-absorbed councillors should focus on bin collection and bike lanes instead of global posturing on issues they know nothing about.

Picture this. Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is opening a huge bag of mail.

He receives a letter from the other side of the world, from a curious place called Merri-bek.

He stops short, reads intently.

“This Australian council wants us to call an immediate ceasefire. They make such good points. I think I’ll consider it,” he says.

“Get Mahmoud Abbas on the phone.”

Is this really what the conceited councillors of Merri-bek really think is going to happen?

Apparently so.

Six out of 11 Merri-bek City councillors this week moved a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. No longer will this little old inner north council confine itself to local issues when it has a chance of becoming a player on the world stage.

Such councils no longer see themselves bound by the local indignities of rates, rubbish and roads.

These days, they’re just as likely to be offering up their opinions to foreign governments and the United Nations as planning new bike lanes and bin taxes.

Marri-bek Council flags show support for Palestine. Picture: Alex Coppel.

So convinced are a growing number of councillors as to the importance of their status as elected officials, they feel compelled to share their thoughts on foreign conflicts being fought thousands of kilometres away.

Such councils refuse to see their geographical boundaries as limitations; for them there is no topic too complex and no location too distant to benefit from their wisdom.

Merri-bek Council will also lobby the Australian Government to cut all ties with the state of Israel until “it complies with its obligations under international law”.

The motion also endorsed a plan to fly the Palestinian flag and for the council to review its contracts with businesses that support “Israeli’s illegal occupation”.

Such motions also display an appalling lack of understanding of the decades-long conflict that was reignited with the brutal slaying of 1400 defenceless citizens by the terrorist group Hamas.

Fixing Gaza shouldn’t be a concern for Merri-bek City Council.

Merri-bek’s 600-word, 11-part motion doesn’t even mention Hamas’ terror attack.

Or the fact that 240 Israelis are still being held hostage in Gaza, including innocent elderly people, women, children and babies.

The motion stated that the “constant bombing and total siege of Gaza is traumatising for many Merri-bek residents”.

The grandiose self-importance of such councillors is just as traumatising.

Councillor Sue Bolton, who moved the motion, obviously sees no global conflict too large for her gaze to alight, mentioning not only the Rwandan genocide but also Nazi atrocities in her speech.

Mayor Angelica Panopoulos also defended using her position to advocate for peace on the international stage.

Ms Panopoulos seems to think she was voted in as a roaming global humanitarian or the head of the UN, not a 23-year-old local councillor representing the northwest ward.

She’s qualified to vote on the Gaza conflict, she told the meeting on Wednesday, because she has empathy and a degree in international relations.

And yet she’s not kind or smart enough to think about the people with Israeli ties in her municipality, and to consider what they think about the motion.

One councillor clearly doesn’t see himself as a global goodwill ambassador, but as someone who was elected to deal with local issues is Oscar Yildiz. Instead of being praised for thinking local instead of global, he’s been receiving death threats.

Sadly, Merri-bek, which used to much more usefully known as Moreland Council, is not the only council with a global overreach.

Canterbury Bankstown Council in Sydney was the first to fly the Palestinian flag “in sympathy of the Palestinian people”.

Too bad about the feeling of the area’s Jewish people reeling from atrocities initiated by Hamas. Randwick Council came to its senses and reversed a similar decision.

Merri-bek city councillor Sue Bolton. Picture: Jason Edwards

What’s the mind frame of these self-absorbed councillors and their pompous pretensions? Do they really think anyone cares what they believe?

I’m pretty sure Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong won’t reassess their national response to this crisis after receiving the Merri-bek motion urging them to call for an immediate ceasefire.

And Bibi won’t be calling Angelica anytime soon to get further advice.

Rather than uniting their community, such global posturing serves to further divide, especially when the Merri-bek civic centre is flying the Palestinian flag and reviewing their contracts with pro-Israel firms.

A glance at the council’s website shows many pressing issues for its councillors to keep busy. The locations of the container deposit scheme, for instance. The mural launch in Pascoe Vale. The draft parking management policy. Deciding on a new name for the park at 41-43 Service St, Coburg. New bike lanes. Planning laws.

Fixing Gaza isn’t one of them.

Susie O’Brien is a Saturday Herald Sun columnist