Harvey council votes on new Reconciliation Action Plan in a debate labelled a “sad indictment” on the shire

Harvey shire president Michelle Campbell was forced to use her casting vote to approve a Reconciliation Action Plan following a debate she called a “sad indictment” on the shire. Debating the new RAP at Tuesday night’s meeting, deputy shire president Craig Carbone was quick to oppose the motion calling the plan little more than “tokenism” and “virtue signalling”. It is the most recent of several recent instances the council had debated its shire’s relationship with First Nations people, with Cr Carbone unsuccessfully pushing to scrap the welcome to country in 2023 and 2024. During the most recent debate Cr Carbone gave a scathing tirade against several parts of the RAP, while stating he has no interest in learning Aboriginal culture. Cr Carbone took swings at the use of the Aboriginal flag claiming it “sickened” him to see the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag in the background of Prime Ministerial statements and again complained about the use of the welcome to country in the shire. “I am sick of the acknowledgement of country and I think the majority of Australians are now,” he said. He also pushed back on a proposal in the draft RAP to include dual-naming of streets and landmarks within the shire. “I think that the general public would be quite upset that the town of Brunswick, Stirling Cottage or Sir James Avenue might have an Aboriginal name placed on it,” he said. Cr Carbone then said he didn’t like feeling guilty about injustices of the past, but also had no intention of attending cultural awareness training. “I don’t want to learn their culture — are they going to learn mine, are they going to learn to make Italian sausages and tomato sauce,” he said. “I have no intention of doing cultural awareness training and I don’t think anyone else here should. “This is about being symbolic rather than being substantive — it’s tokenism, it’s virtue signalling.” Cr Robyn Coleman spoke against the motion pointing to the recurring fees of renewing the RAP annually and NAIDOC sporting events within the shire saying prioritising Aboriginal events over Italian and Filipino events was “reverse discrimination”. “I believe that the ongoing $10,000 per annum is a waste of taxpayer money and staff time,” she said “The working relationship that we have with our Aboriginal people now is, within the shire and within the community, is excellent and does not need a $10,000 report.” Shire president Michelle Campbell said it was a “sad indictment” on the shire to have the shire’s Aboriginal community intimidated by the council resolving to endorse a reconciliation plan. “This is not our first RAP, we were part of the Bunbury-Geographe RAP and, we endorsed the development of a reconciliation plan as part of our council plan last year,” she said. “But I am confident that this is the correct action for us to take.” Cr Campbell said the plan was worked on with numerous First Nations stakeholders in the region, particularly the Harvey Aboriginal Corporation, which represents a number of elders within the region. “They want to see the reconciliation plan, and they support it,” she said. “The Aboriginal community highlighted the cultural diversity within our region and the mechanisms that may be introduced by us to make, even them, more inclusive — which I think is a damn good outcome for this RAP.” Cr Campbell said it was terrific a minority group within the shire had concerns about the fallout for the community but still raised options and vision for the shire to look at all cultures within our very diverse region. “I know that we should afford them the respect that recognises their history and their continued contribution to our very diverse community,” she said. Cr Wendy Dickinson also spoke in favour of the plan, kicking back at some of Cr Carbone’s claims. She said historically the shire has engaged with dual naming at important sites across the region. “I grew up on the Collie River and yet I never knew the Indigenous name of it — why was that,” she said. “It is neglect of us to not acknowledge our history and that includes the history of the Indigenous people in our community. Cr Dickinson said the RAP was an opportunity to move forward while acknowledging the true surroundings and discussions of flags were well beyond the local government’s scope. “There sites that have been identified that have the Indigenous name as well as the colonial name, and those resources are being used by all parties now in research going forward,” she said. “It seems the names have dropped off in more recent times but that does not mean we should not acknowledge or use those names.” Cr Laurie Morley said reconciliation done properly was not about statements or ceremonies it was about relationships, trust and engagement. “It has got to be real, not performative and it must be local, accountable and measurable,” he said. The vote came down 4-4 with Cr Morley, Cr Campbell, Cr Dickinson and Cr Karen McCarthy all in support and Cr Coleman, Cr Carbone, Cr Alicia Hitchcock and Cr John Bromham against. Cr Campbell used her casting vote as shire president to pass the motion.