The City of Hobart will send a letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, urging the Australian Government to support a ceasefire in Gaza.
During a meeting on Monday night, councillors passed a motion that condemns the “abhorrent acts committed by Hamas”, “Israel’s indiscriminate and disproportionate military attacks against the Palestinian people” and “calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the Israeli hostages by Hamas”.
The motion brought about by Councillor Mike Dutta, Bill Harvey, and Zelinda Sherlock took around an hour to pass and will see the Lord Mayor write to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, asking him to “uphold international law by seeking to broker a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict”.
Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds voted in support of the “balanced motion” that she said “acknowledges both sides of this terrible conflict” and has “peace at its heart”.
“I think that’s what the community wants it’s council to be an advocate for. The Hobart community are a community that cares deeply about the world, it thinks deeply about the world,” Reynolds said.
“We have a community that is very engaged in a whole range of issues and they want their local representatives to reflect those values and be an advocate for peace.”
She said both sides of the conflict are represented in the Hobart community and both are calling for peace.
“This is not from my perspective just any normal conflict. I think the scale and ferocity of this conflict has shocked the people of Hobart … so many people have raised with me that have have been really personally very distressed by what they are seeing.”
“I understand people’s view that this is outside local governments view, but … we reflect the concerns of our community and it’s been very clear to me that our community see this as a very worrying and significant conflict.”
Alderman Marti Zucco, who voted against the motion, raised concerns that condemning Israel’s attacks as ‘indiscriminate and disproportionate’ was ‘flawed’ as it “clearly attacks an organisation … or a state”.
“I don’t think that we as a council should be going down that track, I think it’s inappropriate and it’s beyond our call as local representatives,” Zucco said.
“If this council is serious about seeking peace, if this council is seeking for all of us to be good people and to be fair and equitable across the board, we should not be condemning any organisation at all whatsoever.”
How the Hobart City Councillors voted
FOR
- Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds
- Helen Burnet
- Bill Harvey
- Mike Dutta
- Dr Zelinda Sherlock
- Louise Bloomfield
- Ryan Posselt
- Ben Lohberger
AGAINST
- Marti Zucco
- John Kelly
- Will Coats
ABSENT
- Louise Elliot
