Brawl erupts outside ‘emotional’ Casey Council meeting
Violence has marred a Casey Council meeting before it even began, following a day of turmoil as the embattled council was sacked by the government.
VIC News
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Dramatic scenes have erupted outside Casey Council offices, with police pepper-spraying a teen and additional police called in as reinforcement.
The Herald Sun witnessed police restrain two teen girls outside Bunjil Place 6.15pm, with one of them screaming and hurling abuse at police as they tried to restrain her.
Tempers began to flare when the teen’s friend was being handcuffed, with police pepper-spraying her to defuse the situation.
One witness, who claimed to be a friend of the girl who was arrested, told the Herald Sun, he was shocked by the incident.
“It was so full on — I thought someone was going to get seriously hurt,” he said.
It’s unclear at this stage why the incident unfolded, but it’s understood the teens attended Fountain Gate before the chaos unfolded.
A Victoria Police spokesman said police were called to a shopping centre on Princess Highway, Narre Warren about 4.45pm after reports two girls had damaged basins in the public toilets.
“An investigation commenced and police located a girl fitting the description of one of the offenders in Bunjil Place about 6pm,” he said.
“As they were talking to her a second teen attended and obstructed police.
“Police attempted to arrest both teens and O/C spray was deployed. Both the 15-year-old girls were taken into custody.”
The investigation into the damage is ongoing.
Casey Council will be sacked after a Bill forcing the removal of the current councillors passed the Victorian parliament and delaying the next election until 2024.
The new laws passed despite a war of words in the Legislative Council over the lengthy delay before a new council could be elected.
The crossbench voted against the change and in a shock move veteran Liberal MP Bruce Atkinson crossed the floor in the Upper House refusing to say yes to the Bill despite the Coalition giving it support.
However, the numbers were not enough and the legislation was passed late on Tuesday afternoon.
In an unexpected turn of events Mr Atkinson announced he would cross the floor and vote against the Bill, lashing out at Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek who fired back, calling the Coalition member “an absolute grub”.
Mr Atkinson vowed not to vote with the rest of his party in support of sacking the Casey Council, with concerns about the report as well as the 2024 deadline set to hold the next round of council elections in the region.
“A minister who has stewardship for local government but very little regard for it and certainly when we come to this particular decision,” Mr Atkinson said.
“The decision is to be made and is supported by the Coalition, but in my view it is certainly far too long to wait until 2024 to reinstate democratically elected councillors and I won’t be voting for the Bill today.”
Not holding another election until 2024 has also been a point of contention for crossbenchers including, Liberal Democrats Tim Quilty and David Limbrick, Sustainable Australia Clifford Hayes and Reason’s Fiona Patten.
It is understood the concerns may lead the Bill to be voted down in the Legislative Council.
Following his remarks, Mr Atkinson later interjected, insinuating Mr Somyurek had personally drafted the report.
Mr Somyurek retaliated saying he had followed due process these were “grubby tactics by this man that should have been out of here 15 years ago”.
“You’re an absolute grub” he said while defending his appointment of the monitor and supporting her recommendation.
“You are a very small man”.
Casey’s mayor was brought to tears in a tearful speech at the council’s final meeting on Tuesday night.
Mayor Susan Serey said Tuesday was a “difficult day” after hearing of the council’s sacking.
Cr Serey addressed the gallery, saying there had been “no concrete”evidence for the council’s dismissal.
“I’m the youngest mayor ... I would like to thank the volunteers, colleagues and staff — this has been the best part of working on council,” she said in a tearful statement.
A police presence was visible inside the council chambers.
One furious resident was heard laughing loudly as councillor Gary Rowe made his final speech.
“Oh come on,” the resident said mocking Cr Rowe during his speech.
A woman then shouted back at him saying: “have some respect”.
Casey Residents and Ratepayers Association secretary Brendan Browne said he was disappointed the meeting wasn’t conducted as a proper council meeting.
“It was just an opportunity as per usual for the councillors to self-congratulate each other and talk about their supposed achievements,” Mr Browne said.
“They absolutely deserve to be dismissed and now we’re stuck with administrators with the mess they’ve created.
“But it’s a great thing for the City of Casey to get rid of this totally dysfunctional council.”
A culture of bullying and intimidation fuelled major governance failures at the City of Casey and sparked the Andrews Government’s decision to intervene and put administrators in charge.
Allegations of bullying are revealed in independent monitor Laurinda Gardner’s report, tabled in state parliament today, which also exposes conflict of interest issues among elected officials.
Casey council has been at the centre of an explosive Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission inquiry into dodgy land deals and developer donations.
But in her report, Ms Gardner found that even after IBAC’s revelations, the councillors failed to seek training to resolve governance and conflict issues.
Two councillors she interviewed said they suspected at one or more of their colleagues had still not disclosed conflicts of interests, but did not report them because they did not understand their responsibilities.
Ms Gardner said the council had indicated “a willingness to pass responsibility onto another body rather than taking up the challenge of demonstrating how they can govern well, and restore community trust and confidence”.
The report also detailed how “dominant personalities” had led to alleged bullying including “exclusion, cliques, and intimidation by councillors”, as well as “disrespectfully and inflammatory” email exchanges.
It comes as heavy police presence is expected to stand guard outside the Casey Council chambers for tonight’s meeting.
Mr Geoff Ablett, a Hawthorn premiership player, said the council “would not hesitate” to call on police if anyone in the gallery caused trouble.
“It’s going to be an emotional evening so I hope people can be respectful and if anyone does get out of line they will be asked to leave,” Mr Ablett said.
“I think most of the council’s achievements in the past 12 years will be highlighted and I hope that the community can focus on this.”
Ms Gardner said it was “disturbing” that councillors had withdrew complaints, and that there was an “apparent embedded culture of a failure to challenge these councillor behaviours”.
She said this was a “serious governance failure”.
“This unwillingness of councillors to call out unacceptable councillor behaviour and hold each other to account appears to be motivated by a fear of conflict or further intimidation that has enabled inappropriate behaviour to go unchecked,” she said.
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Ms Gardner recommended the dismissal of the council, with the government locking in its decision to sack Casey yesterday.
Parliament will now consider legislation to formalise the sacking this week that would see administrators installed until 2024.
Ms Gardner’s report concluded that councillors were “more concerned about their own reputation” and that their behaviour had caused “serious damage to the reputation of, and public confidence in the council”.