Disbelief as Surf Coast Shire Aus Day motion fails

A packed public gallery has been left in disbelief after council voted whether to reinstate Australia Day.

A motion to reinstate Australia Day has been sensationally struck down.

A push to reinstate Australia Day on the Surf Coast has sensationally been voted down after an alternative was proposed by a former mayor.

In a charged meeting, a motion brought forward by first-term councillor Rebecca Bourke that would have seen citizenship ceremonies and council endorsed Australia Day events reinstated was voted down in favour of an alternate motion.

There was disbelief from all sides on Tuesday night when Winchelsea ward councillor Tony Phelps, who on Thursday said he would vote for the motion, declared he would instead support an alternate brought forward by Liz Pattison.

Mr Phelps’ vote flipped the result, with the motion failing four votes to five.

Ms Pattison’s motion, which passed seven votes to two, gained the support of Adrian Schonfelder and Joel Grist.

It will see council advocate to the federal government to change the date of Australia Day, as well as preparing a report on the potential impact that Ms Bourke’s proposal could have.

It was standing room only at Tuesday’s meeting.

Mr Phelps said it was due to his support for Ms Pattison’s alternate motion that he withdrew his vote for what was ultimately passed.

“So I say let’s join together to change that day to a long weekend in January without a specific date,” Mr Phelps said.

“I ask everyone to put the pressure where it truly is needed, which is on the Prime Minister to change that day and fix this issue for us.”

In a bizarre move, Mr Schonfelder, a Winchelsea ward councillor, at one point advocated for the motion to specifically mention the last Friday of January as the date council should advocate for, but this amendment found no support.

Mr Vandenberg addresses a group before heading in to the meeting.

The result, which came after much debate, left much of the gallery suspended in disbelief.

Co-convener of the Surf Coast for Reconciliation group Andrew Vandenberg, who addressed a group of about 50 supporters prior to the meeting, said he couldn’t foresee the outcome.

Councillor Paul Barker, a key advocate of Australia Day celebrations, slammed the alternative motion as “hypocrisy”.

There were police at the entry to the gallery before and after the meeting, but their services were not required.

Tension was high in the room as the meeting kicked off, with the gallery full of predominantly people opposed to Ms Bourke’s move.

Ms Pattison said it was the biggest turn out to a council meeting in her time.

While the crowd were mostly well behaved, they disrupted councillor Paul Barker on occasions.

This led to an untimely moment when Mr Barker called out a member of the gallery for disruption, only for the culprit to be a child.

“Would you like me to take my son outside?” an audience member replied.

Originally published as Disbelief as Surf Coast Shire Aus Day motion fails