Media statement - Council meeting disruption

Published on 17 January 2023

A disruption at last night’s Council meeting resulted in a formal motion to adjourn the meeting.

“Unfortunately there was an interruption to the meeting due to audio visual technical issues, meaning the large crowd gathered outside of the Council chamber were unable to adequately hear the meeting, resulting in disruptive and aggressive behaviour from members of the public,” Mayor Moira Were said.

“It’s very disappointing that we were not able to conduct business safely in an open and transparent way.

“I’m concerned about the elected members, staff, and public who came to tonight’s meeting with good will, to talk about the issues important to them – such as the Lions Club of Seaford and Districts, and the Rotary Club of Seaford.

“It is a place for respectful and open discussion, debate and decision making.

“We understand from social media that there was a lot of interest in the City of Onkaparinga’s proposed declaration of a climate emergency.

“It was a key issue during the election campaign and tonight’s agenda item to discuss declaring a climate emergency raised further interest.

“We look forward to the opportunity for this issue to be discussed in a robust, transparent but most importantly, a safe manner.

“We know our community cares about this issue —81 per cent of respondents to our 2021 Community Survey agreed that ‘not addressing climate change would be a risk to our city’.

“This tells us our community want to discuss this issue and we’re working towards a solution where we can resume the meeting in a safe manner to progress this.”

Other important agenda items included the construction and lease of storage facilities for the Lions Club and Rotary Club of Seaford, approval of the Australia Day Awards recipients for 2023, and appointment to the State Bushfire Coordination Committee.

Mayor Were said the council would provide details about the next meeting in due course on the City of Onkaparinga website.

Enquiries

For all media enquiries contact our Media team on 0468 561 374 or email media@onkaparinga.sa.gov.au

ENDS