Eddie Russell
A dramatic verbal clash at the Melton Civic Centre has left one resident fuming.
Adam Duggan, who is a founding member of the Melton Council Palestinian Solidarity Group, submitted two questions and a petition for a council meeting on Monday August 26.
The first question was accepted by council, but the second question and the petition were ignored.
Following the conclusion of public question time, Mr Duggan, who attended the meeting, protested the overlooking of his concerns.
Star Weekly can reveal that the second question submitted to council by Mr Duggan was: ‘(With the exception of Steve Abboushi), Melton councillors and council staff continually fail to acknowledge emails and phone calls from residents. Why is this, and how does the council propose to rectify this shortcoming?’
A Melton council spokesperson said the second query was inappropriate for public question time.
“Under Council’s Governance Rules there are a number of reasons why a question may be disallowed,” they said.
“In this instance, the public question was disallowed as it was determined that it related to a matter which should be dealt with through Council’s Complaint Management Process.”
During the altercation, Melton mayor Kathy Majdlik cited governance rules 62.7.4 and 62.7.9 as reasons why the question was unanswered.
Rule 62.7.9, which was adopted in 2020, states ‘A question may be disallowed by the chair or the chief executive officer if it relates to confidential, personal or sensitive information’.
Mr Duggan said the council hid behind the rules to avoid further interrogation.
“Why didn’t they answer that second question? [Because] I think it would lead to further questions,” he said.
The petition requests Melton councillors to “stand firmly in solidarity with the people of Palestine” by raising a motion to “call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire” and “condemn the violence of Israeli forces.”
It was started in December last year and has 2000 signatures.
Mr Duggan said he was bewildered that the petition was not accepted considering the number of people who support it.
“It’s on change.org, which is globally the biggest [petition site]… they are being ridiculous,” he said.
“That many signatures is a lot of people.”
The two petitions tabled during the meeting received 26 and 471 signatories respectively.
Council did not answer Star Weekly’s question about why the petition was not accepted.
