TENSIONS flared in a debate that carried on for over an hour about whether Lake Macquarie council should throw its support behind an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Ultimately the council voted to support the voice, the Uluru Statement from the Heart and to provide opportunities to raise awareness about the referendum.
Mayor Kay Fraser brought the issue to the table and ended the discussion telling councillors she was "disappointed" in such a long debate.
"This is about leadership, it's about us taking a stand, about us saying we care about our First Nations people and saying we want to hear their voice, we haven't heard from them," she said.
"Yes we might fluff around the edges, do our acknowledgement to country, we do our dual naming and that's great - but there's so much more we can do.
"We want to be one, we want to support everyone, we want everyone to have the same opportunities and that's what the Voice to Parliament does.
"So I'm proud to stand up here as a leader, as the mayor of this city and bring this to you - because it's really important for us to take a stand and to do the right thing."
The debate was centred around whether Lake Macquarie as a council should take a position on a federal issue.
Councillors Jack Antcliff, Jason Pauling, Nick Jones and Colin Grigg argued it went well beyond council's wheelhouse.
Two changes to the minute were proposed, one to just 'note' the Voice to Parliament and another to take no position on the issue - both were shot down.
Cr Pauling, who is Indigenous, said he agreed with a lot of what other councillors said about the 'catastrophe' First Nations people have faced.
"The true test of whether the community supports it will be in the outcome, and I think it's grossly inappropriate for the council to start a propaganda campaign," Cr Pauling said.
"Without knowing if this will work, if it will have any impact on all the atrocities, tragedies and mistakes of the past which I wholeheartedly agree with - we don't know if this will work.
"I wholeheartedly believe in unity, I want this to be one Australia, I want us to all be united, I have no problem with recognition of the stewardship of 60,000 years of this awesome nation from which I hail."
Cr Pauling said that in the best case, he felt it was political or tokenistic "do-goodering" and that without getting bogged down in the pros and cons of the voice, he was opposed to the council taking a position on a matter he felt was for Australian citizens to decide.
Similarly, Cr Antcliff and Cr Jones took the view it wasn't for council to "play in that space" and said they wanted to send the message to residents that it's okay to vote 'no'.
"The people who vote no are not bad people, they're not racists. I don't think I know many of them but to be honest with you I'm sure they're not horrible people - there'd be some in this room, whoop-de-do," he said.
"What I don't think doing this as a council does is creates the unity and the consultation that everyone at this table has been talking about - it sets those people apart.
"We're walking into this debate maybe six months before it's going to happen saying 'this is the position your council is taking' - despite the fact that everyone in this room will have the opportunity to have their own say."
The referendum will ask Australians to vote on whether they support a constitutionally enshrined body that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have input on the laws and policies that directly affect them.
The decision to stand behind the voice was supported by councillors Fraser, Shultz, Adamthwaite, Conroy, Buckley, Bishop and Belcher.
Councillors Warner and Cubis weren't at the meeting.
"For too long, the voices and aspirations of our First Nations have been silenced, relegated to the periphery of decision-making processes that affect their lives and communities," Cr Belcher said.
"We cannot ignore the painful truths of the past, the historical injustices inflicted on them or the generational trauma that continues to reverberate today.
"By establishing a First Nations Voice to Parliament we send a powerful message, one that recognises the intrinsic value of Indigenous knowledge, perspective and experiences."
Lake Macquarie has the second largest per capita population of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the state.
The motion to councillors argued that the Indigenous community has greatly contributed to the city, and that it was thanks to the Awabakal people that today residents can enjoy culturally significant sites like Glenrock, Pulbah Island, Belmont Lagoon and Lake Macquarie/Awaba.
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