Whittlesea mayor Ricky Kirkham accused some of his fellow councillors of playing politics during a fiery first meeting of the new council, in which he faced a dissent motion and threatened to remove two councillors from the chamber less than an hour into the meeting.
Councillors started the meeting arguing about where they would sit, after five councillors who are endorsed by Labor – Sam Alessi, Lawrie Cox, Stevan Kozmevski, Kris Pavlidis and Emilia Sterjova – asked to sit together.
Cr Kirkham rejected the request and put forward a motion for councillors to be seated in their wards, in keeping with what he described as a long-standing convention of the council.
He said he was concerned that allowing the endorsed councillors to sit together would segregate the council.
In response, Cr Kozmevski warned that Cr Kirkham was setting a “dangerous precedent”, adding that it was “disgraceful” that the issue had been tabled.
“It looks like some people don’t want us who are endorsed to sit together … for the mayor to put this up is disgraceful,” he said.
Cr Kirkham’s motion was passed six votes to five.
Cr Cox then raised concerns about the accuracy of the minutes of the November 3 mayoral election. His request to amend the minutes was rejected by Cr Kirkham.
Cr Kirkham said he wanted his fellow councillors to put the interests of the community first.
