City of Albany council votes to not adopt electors meeting motions in heated forum
An Albany council meeting was the scene of heated exchanges on Tuesday as councillors considered whether to restrict and remove books at the public library, with security forced to intervene several times.
More than 120 people attended the City of Albany’s ordinary council meeting where councillors voted 8-3 to support the officers’ recommendation not to adopt the motions of a special electors meeting in August with councillors Mario Lionetti, Thomas Brough and Craig McKinley voting against.
The electors’ motions were to restrict children’s access to two sexual education books in the library, investigate comic e-book series Sex Criminals by Chip Zdarsky and inquire into the funding and working with children checks of the operators of the Twerkshop event run as part of the Albany Pride Festival.
The books in question were Welcome to Sex by Dr Melissa Kang and Yumi Stynes, and Sex: A Book for Teens by Nikol Hasler.
A heated meeting
The city does not usually hire security for its council meetings but on this occasion, two guards were stationed at the entrance to the council chambers.
After Cr Brough urged the council to adopt the electors’ motions, he was met with a standing ovation from some while another person approached him and yelled aggressively before leaving. After the vote, as members of the audience were leaving the chambers, a person yelled “d…heads” at the council. Security guards were forced to intervene outside when a verbal stoush broke out between several people.
The campaign to restrict books at the library
Keeping Children Safe Albany has been campaigning since June to restrict access to sex education books at Albany public library. Their petition for a special electors meeting attracted 362 signatures, asking the city to investigate “the promotion of sexualising children in the City of Albany through unrestricted books in the library and events held during the month of February 2024”.
More than 400 electors attended the August 26 meeting, voting in favour of the five motions.
The officers’ recommendation to council
On Tuesday, councillors considered the officers’ recommendation that they not adopt the five motions as it would fall outside their remit as defined in the Local Government Act 1995, and could pose reputational and legal risks.
The officers’ report also noted the library had already relocated Welcome to Sex to the young adult section and would not replace Sex: A Book for Teens — which had been flagged in the system as lost after an extended unreturned loan — due to its age and the availability of more current resources.
The report also pointed to the Albany public library’s standards of behaviour which place responsibility on parents and guardians to supervise their children while in the library and guide their book choices.
Public question time
During public question time, nine members of the public spoke on the issue with wide-ranging views from religious arguments to a focus on child safeguarding and democracy.
KCSA campaigner and former One Nation candidate Michelle Kinsella spoke at length, accusing the council of mismanaging ratepayers’ money and supporting “the distribution of pornography to minors”.
Independent member for the South West Sophia Moermond MLC said providing children with information about certain sex acts was “by no means harmless” while Robinson resident Gerritt Ballast argued that morality should come from the Bible and that “God ordained that marriage and sexual intimacy was between the husband and wife”.
Headspace Albany manager Andrew Wenzel said access to factually correct information about sexuality and sexual health was crucial for young people’s development, health, and wellbeing, and said that headspace had seen an increase in young people seeking support since the campaign began in June.
Albany Pride board member Hannah Halls said that the motions were designed to “divide communities and create animosity towards marginalised sectors”, and Jem Ruggera called on the council to respect parents’ ability to decide what books their children should read. “Good parents are perfectly capable of making rational decisions about what their children read,” he said.
Councillors discuss the motions
When it came time for councillors to consider the electors’ motions, Crs Robert Sutton, Malcolm Traill, Paul Terry, Stephen Grimmer and Lynn MacLaren spoke against them. Cr Sutton said everyone in the room was concerned with safeguarding children but it was not the council’s role to determine book classification for which there are State and Federal agencies. “Where does it start and where does it finish?,” he said. “We ban these books then where are we going to go? Are we going to burn books in the streets?”
Cr Traill said he supported free speech and strives for a “diverse, inclusive, happy, healthy, safe community” and that the matters are “outside council jurisdiction”, while Cr Terry said the public debate was having a negative impact on children and that “phones were a much more dangerous medium than books”.
Cr MacLaren said she was saddened by the lack of respect in the debate and that the librarians had been “thrown under the bus” in the process.
Cr Grimmer said “speech” and “choice” were fundamental pillars of democracy.
Crs Lionetti and Brough both spoke against the officer’s recommendation and in favour of passing the electors’ motions.
Cr Brough said the special electors meeting was “open, fair, and transparent” and that “everyone had their say in democracy”.
“When you run a fair race, you must respect the results,” he said.
“The electors are the ultimate umpire.”
He also argued that the council’s authority came from its elected members and that policies should be designed to serve the community.
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