Vote for reviewed welcome to country policy turns to heated debate

The Shire of Harvey’s welcome to country policy review descended into a heated debate in council chambers last week, with one councillor calling the ceremony virtue-signalling tokenism and calling on more recognition for Italians.

It came as the shire voted to conduct a review of the policy after a brutal debate last November. Cr Craig Carbone had requested the council scrap the welcome entirely.

Last week’s debate took place during Reconciliation Week, which Cr Wendy Dickinson pointed out. She said she hoped councillors would support the new policy which details when and how welcome to country and acknowledgement of country ceremonies should be held.

Cr Carbone, was quick to disagree.

He said he understood the “Aboriginal cause”, but his primary issue with the reviewed policy was financial.

Paying $680 for a senior elder to preform a welcome to county ceremony was too high for “five minutes of work”, he said, though he also expressed his displeasure with longer welcome to country ceremonies.

“I don’t want to sit thorough another 45 minutes to be lectured on the injustices of the past,” Cr Carbone said.

“I just don’t want to do it.”

He said the fee would only benefit a “privileged few” within the shire and argued there are other nationalities within the shire deserving of equal representation.

“The Aboriginal population is only one race of a very multicultural country that we live in now,” he said.

“When are the Italians going to get recognised in this shire?

“When are we going to hoist an Italian flag in front of every council building in front of this shire?”

He reiterated points raised in the November meeting, and said similar policies were doing the “Aboriginal cause” harm and “people are sick of it”.

“This virtue signalling and tokenism is starting to wear thin,” he said.

Cr Tiny Holly said he fully backed Cr Carbone in November and again fully backed him in this vote.

He said he visited four functions over the weekend, each with different welcome to country ceremonies and believes none of them came from the heart.

“I think when we do it, we’re just reading it off a bit of paper and people don’t listen to it,” he said.

Cr Joe Capogreco also spoke against the motion claiming he did not like the way the new policy was laid out.

He said while there are times when the shire should acknowledge its traditional owners, that should not be at every council meeting.

“We are over-using it,” Cr Capogreco said.

“People aren’t even listening to it, they just think ‘oh here we go again’.

“I find it disrespectful to Aboriginal people when you look around the room and people are just rolling their eyes.”

Cr Capogreco said he respects the fact Australia has an Indigenous past to acknowledge, but agreed immigrants who “built the country” were not represented enough.

Cr Dickinson said she disagreed with the statement people don’t respect the ceremony any more.

She said she has heard people discuss the quality of welcome to country speeches, and has observed people showing respect when it is delivered.

Shire president Cr Michelle Campbell also spoke in favour of the new policy.

She said she, along with shire CEO Annie Riordan, consulted with the shire’s Aboriginal elders to develop the new policy.

Cr Campbell said the elders agreed there are some instances where the welcome to country is overused, but some instances were of high value to them.

“(Elders) did stipulate there are key activities that a welcome to country is very important to them, such as the citizenship ceremonies,” she said.

I think this policy is a really good start for us to move forward in collaboration with our First Nations people.

The vote to adopt the new policy only passed by a hair in the end, with five councillors voting in favour and five voting against.

Cr Alicia Hitchcock, Cr Carbone, Cr Michelle Boylan, Cr Holly and Cr Capogreco all voted against the new policy, with Cr Campbell ultimately passing the motion through a casting vote.