I WRITE in response to the two letters attacing me in last week’s Bunyip.
Choosing to ignore the content and purpose of my December 6 letter, Richard Harris and Glennys Clothier both chose instead to attack me and to unload on us all their hatred for the regular use of Acknowledgment of Country.
Clearly Richard Harris and Glennys Clothier don’t like Acknowledgment of Country being used regularly at the start of council meetings, and clearly they don’t believe that our Indigenous Aboriginal people deserve any special recognition, but I had presumed them capable of understanding my letter and of believing in proper process, fairness and transparency… but I was wrong!
Rather than allow a sneaky motion-withoutnotice to be used to remove Acknowledgment of Country, Playford and the Northern Areas Council should have insisted on a motionon-notice to that effect, to be debated at a future meeting following a period of public consultation on the matter.
Do Richard Harris and Glennys Clothier think it decent and fair of councils to change long standing policy and practice without any prior warning?
How would Ms Clothier and Mr Harris feel if Gawler, or any council, made changes to long standing policy and practice without any warning, and without any public consultation whatsoever, by simply allowing change via motions-without-notice?
I can only imagine Ms Clothier’s and Mr Harris’s outrage if Gawler, or any council, provided no period of public consultation, gave no prior warning, and simply voted on a motion-without-notice to remove the picture of the monarch and the display of the national flags from the council chambers.
Irrespective of whether we like or don’t like Acknowledgment of Country being read at council meetings, decency, fairness, and transparency dictates that any intention to remove it from the agenda deserves prior warning and public consultation.
Ian Tooley, Gawler East
