A 30-minute shutdown failed to calm tensions that escalated to swearing and shouting at Hume council’s meeting at Sunbury last Monday.
Local residents and pro-secession lobbyists Arnie Azaris and Trevor Dance were both asked to leave the public podium during question time. Both are expected to be issued with a three-month ban from attending future meetings after mayor Casey Nunn, and later chief executive Domenic Isola, were forced to read the rule book about good manners and constructive debate.
The showdown was sparked by the council’s formal adoption of its own submission to the “Sunbury out of Hume” panel inquiry, which wants to ensure Melbourne Airport remains part of Hume. The submission also sought confirmation that Hume councillors would not be replaced by administrators once the panel inquiry is submitted after June 30.
“It’s a crisis of identity,” one woman in the gallery noted during the half-hour in which councillors retired behind closed doors to determine proper procedure in the face of accusations that the council had breached their own code of conduct by speaking to the media beforehand.
The build-up had started earlier in the day when Craigieburn locals attended a public forum on the secession process.
Those gathered supported a motion led by Yuroke MP Liz Beattie, criticising the lack of information and clear intent by the government after a poll of ratepayers last October was determined as giving “overwhelming support” to the division of Sunbury from Hume, based on a boundary interface along Deep Creek.
This would have left Melbourne Airport within Hume, but subsequent comments made by the Sunbury Residents Association and councillors Jack Medcraft and Jack Ogilvie suggest the airport is very much in the sights of supporters of the new municipality.
Former Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell said the boundary question would be addressed by an expert panel.
