By Alesha Capone
Some Wyndham councillors have come under fire for their behaviour during a heated debate at a public meeting last Tuesday.
Councillors have been described as behaving like children and being a “petulant child” by viewers watching the meeting as it was broadcast live on Facebook.
At one point mayor Adele Hegedich was forced to interject.
The debate deteriorated into bickering over the pronunciation of a councillor’s name, and an accusation of abusive language being used.
“I’m appalled by behaviour, tone and comments made by some people tonight”, one viewer stated.
“Community are interested in adults behaving like adults” wrote another, and that one councillor “is behaving like a petulant child”.
Others likened the meeting to their favourite show: “Someone pass the popcorn”.
The debate erupted when Cr Robert Szatkowski attempted to split a notice of motion, put forward by Cr Josh Gilligan, into five separate motions for councillors to vote on.
The motion concerned land at 203 Woods Road, which was earmarked for construction of a future non-government school under the Truganina Precinct Structure Plan.
As reported by Star Weekly in September, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has given the developer permission to divide the site into 227 residential lots, after the Catholic Education Office pulled out of an agreement to build a school there.
Cr Gilligan’s motion called for Tarneit MP Sarah Connolly to be asked to publicly support the acquisition of the site for a future state government school; and for council to write to Education Minister James Merlino. It also stated that council should reiterate its support for the site to remain a site for a school; that council should remain “concerned about the over reliance of the private sector to acquire land and deliver schools in Wyndham”; and to consider how this may relate to any future stages of the Schools4Wyndham advocacy.
The motion also called for the council to undertake a strategic planning review to look at how it could put in place stronger planning controls around sites designated for non-government schools and community infrastructure.
Cr Gilligan described the changes to his original notice of motion as “ridiculous”. He questioned Cr Szatkowski’s motives for splitting the motion and raised concerns that Cr Szatkowski has “received thousands of dollars of donations from the state member of Tarneit linked to this motion”.
Cr Szatkowski stated the donations are a matter of public record. He then asked Cr Gilligan to “pronounce my surname correctly”.
After trying to say Cr Szatkowski’s surname twice, Cr Gilligan instead addressed him by his first name.
As the debate continued, Cr Sahana Ramesh raised a point of order accusing Cr Gilligan of “using abusive language in the council chamber”. The mayor said she did not hear exactly what was said, “but if there was any language, can you please refrain from using it again”.
Councillors voted on Cr Szatkowski’s five separate motions. All were passed.
