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The head of Victoria’s peak body for local government says councils are grossly unprepared for the type of vitriol being hurled at them during meetings, and recommends closing public galleries to move meetings entirely online.
Meanwhile, a City of Monash councillor who was among those wrongly labelled a paedophile at a raucous meeting in Melbourne’s south-east on Wednesday night has called for the state government to step in.
The meeting was derailed when almost 200 people attended Monash Council’s offices in Glen Waverley, many to protest against a sold-out drag queen story time event planned for children and parents at Oakleigh Library next month.
Extra security staff and police officers were organised after fringe groups including My Place and Reignite Democracy Australia, which espouse views often associated with alt-right or conspiracy theory thinking and can be hostile to the LGBTQ community, rallied supporters to attend.
The meeting was temporarily halted when protesters repeatedly labelled councillors “paedophiles” and called for them to be sacked and arrested for promoting “sex in front of our children”.
Municipal Association of Victoria president David Clark said fringe groups were unfairly capitalising on the close relationship councils had with community members.
People in the public gallery in the Monash Council meeting on Wednesday night.Credit: Facebook/Real Rukshan
“The reason they’re there is because we’re accessible; they’ve got the opportunity and they’re taking it,” he said on Thursday.
Clark said an immediate measure to remove heat from the situation would be moving meetings online – as Yarra Ranges Council has already done – while ensuring public questions could be prioritised.
“My sense is we give it two or three months and see what happens,” he said.
Unlike other councils, including Boroondara and Casey, Monash is refusing to give in to sustained abuse and threats of violence designed to pressure the council to scrap its drag event.
There have been at least 15 councils statewide disrupted by fringe groups in recent months and the Monash protest was the most aggressive yet.
Yarra Ranges Council announced last week it would host its meetings only online indefinitely after copping months of antisocial behaviour.
More than 100 protesters hijacked a January meeting espousing 5G and 15-minute city conspiracies. On Wednesday, Yarra Ranges, in Melbourne’s outer east, said it had spent more than $12,000 since January on security guards and cameras in its Lilydale public gallery.
Monash councillor Josh Fergeus said while he felt the situation on Wednesday night was managed as well as it could be, the verbal abuse was intimidating for ratepayers and councillors.
Protesters outside the Monash Civic Centre in Glen Waverley before Wednesday night’s council meeting.Credit: Paul Jeffers
“It by no means was a great place or safe place to be. At least it didn’t descend into physical altercations like it easily could have,” he said.
Fergeus said livestreaming meetings might be temporarily necessary, but he feared that could disenfranchise residents.
Senator Ralph Babet outside the Monash Council meeting on Wednesday night.Credit: Real Rukshan/Facebook
“A lot of people want to come and meet their councillors,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to lose one of the great things about local government by moving into an entirely online space.”
Fergeus said councils were not equipped to deal with the problem, particularly in rural areas where resources and expertise were more lacking.
“It’s only going to get more intense and I think we need a co-ordinated strategy which addresses not only the security response, but thinks about how we respond to these parts of our community that are so angry and looking for a place to park that anger,” he said.
“The state government needs to consider the changing tenor of some of this debate and provide further funding for councils to increase security measures and ensure that we can keep local democracy safe.”
Clark called for state and federal governments to voice support for local councils, but stopped short of calling for financial help to beef up security.
He opposed the idea of turning council meetings into high-security operations because that was expensive, risked provoking protesters further and undermined democracy.
“There are two other big levels of government out there that are also elected democracies like us that can say, ‘We’re not going to tolerate that, we’re actually here backing you’,” Clark said.
“We do feel a little bit on our own because we’re the ones getting targeted … Local government just can’t function with this kind of disruption.
“A council chamber is supposed to be a place where you can come and meet with councillors at the same level with no barriers. This [protest movement] is absolutely threatening that.”
Clark praised Monash Council for managing to push on with its meeting agenda after a 15-minute adjournment, but he said the councillors were fortunate to have been pre-warned as this was new territory for the sector.
“Grossly unprepared wouldn’t be an understatement,” he said.
“Passion in the council chamber is not unusual to us, we have that on planning matters.
“But when it comes to big social issues over the last 20 years, none of them have played out in the council chamber like this … It’s very worrying.”
Local Government Minister Melissa Horne said there was no place for threatening or aggressive behaviour in public debate.
“The actions of these fringe groups and members of the public at recent council meetings is completely unacceptable,” Horne said. “Councillors and council staff work for local communities, and they have every right to a safe workplace.”
Monash Mayor Tina Samardzija said the council would work with the rest of the local government sector to manage the situation, but was “very reluctant” to move meetings online.
“We hope that last night was a one-off, and we can return to council meetings without disruption so that community members, councillors and staff can attend and participate safely,” she said.
Among those who attended Wednesday night’s meeting were fringe group figures who rose to prominence during anti-lockdown protests, such as United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet, Monica Smit, Avi Yemini and Rukshan Fernando.
Samardzija described the verbal abuse levelled by protesters as unsettling.
“Council is used to working and communicating with people in a heightened state, but the level of anger and abuse directed at our staff and councillors, and misinformation spread on [the drag story time event] has been concerning,” she said.
“If this was to continue in this way across councils, there would inevitably be an impact of people looking to enter our sector.”
Monash ratepayer Gregory Storer attended the meeting as part of a LGBTQ contingent and was horrified by protesters’ slurs after he asked a question about the council’s safe children policy for trans and gender diverse kids.
“Returning to my seat, I heard people calling me a ‘faggot’, ‘groomer’ and ‘paedo’,” he said. “It was way beyond how we in Australia would expect each other to behave.”
However, Storer opposed moving meetings online, and believed fringe groups must be managed without harming democracy.
“We should be able to freely move around and participate in our local democracies without fear and to cave to right-wing extremists is to deliver them what they want,” he said.
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