Five of the 13 elected members saying they did not recall if if vote over controversial RSL club actually even happened

DARWIN councillors aren’t sure if a vote over a controversial RSL club proposal two weeks ago even happened. Five of the 13 members at last night’s meeting said they did not recall ever actually voting

DARWIN council’s short-term memory loss reached a new low at Tuesday night’s council meeting, with five of the 13 elected members saying they did not recall if the vote to table a submission from the RSL actually happened at a meeting earlier this month.

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Alderman Simon Niblock sought to amend the minutes from the October 13 council meeting, which said a vote on whether or not to table the RSL’s proposal to seek further information was passed 13 votes to nil.

“I certainly didn’t vote, I didn’t hear the call to vote,” he said. “It can’t be recorded as 13-0. I would like to have that noted. I would like to note my dissent.”

Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis said he wasn’t sure why elected members had not been aware of a council vote.

Four other alderman sided with Mr Niblock, saying they either didn’t vote or weren’t sure if a vote took place, while aldermen Justine Glover and Robin Knox also asked for their dissent to be acknowledged in the minutes.

But Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis questioned what the aldermen were listening too during the meeting.

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“There are people who say ‘we didn’t vote’. That raises a question of what they were listening to,” he said.

Mr Vatskalis said an audio recording of the meeting, which could clarify whether or not the vote took place, would not be released.