Burnie councillor Trent Aitken claims he is being bullied following ejection from council meeting

After telling a colleague to “research racism”, northwest councillor Trent Aitken was kicked out of a council meeting for not apologising or withdrawing his comments.

Burnie councillor Trent Aitken. Picture: Supplied.

Burnie councillor Trent Aitken has claimed his colleagues are bullying him after he was ejected from a council meeting.

On Tuesday, during the Burnie City Council’s November meeting, Councillor Aitken was kicked out after he refused to withdraw comments where he told a councillor to “research racism”.

In the meeting, Mr Aitken was asked by both Burnie deputy mayor Giovanna Simpson and councillor Amina Keygan to publicly withdraw comments that they deemed were racist and transphobic.

In response to Councillor Keygan’s question, Mr Aitken told her “I would suggest that maybe you do some research on what racism is”.

Ms Keygan then put up a point of order, and Mayor Teeny Brumby asked that Mr Aitken withdraw the comments.

“I need you to apologise, councillor Aitken,” Ms Brumby said.

“No, Mrs mayor, no,” Mr Aitken responded.

“I believe you [Ms Keygan] do need to do some homework.”

Mr Aitken was eventually ejected from the meeting after failing to withdraw the comments and apologise.

Burnie City Council chambers.

Following the meeting, Mr Aitken claimed he was getting picked on, bullied and harassed.

“I 100 per cent stand by what I said,” he said.

“The comments I made were that all children should be treated equally. That is being an equalist; that is not being a racist at all.

“We should all be looking to treat children equally; no one should get special preference.”

After a year in local government, Mr Aitken said he had been having the same issues “over and over again”.

“In the community, people don’t have issues with what I say. People still fully support me as much now as they did 12 months ago when I got elected.

“People can see I’m getting silenced.”