Media response - following April Council meeting (1)
Published on 28 April 2023
Approach from The Age (paraphrasing email)
Councils are used to occasionally having large numbers of residents who oppose a development but typically do so respectfully. I'm hoping the CEO or Mayor could respond today to the following questions (listed below).
Response
- When did the council start to notice an influx of messages/emails/calls in relation to drag storytime? How large has the response been in comparison to usual? How has this been managed and how concerned is the council?
- I understand there have been abuse and threats being levelled at council and councillors? Is the council concerned
Council received a significant and sudden increase in correspondence via email, social media, and phone when our Monash Library IDAHOBIT Day event was shared through online groups in late March.
Council is used to working and communicating with people in a heightened state, but the level of anger related to this issue has been concerning - with direct approaches to Councillors and staff at times overstepping the line of what we believe to be appropriate. We have regularly checked in with staff and Councillors to ensure our people are supported, including referring some responses to senior staff.
- What is the council anticipating for Wednesday night's meeting? How many public questions have been sent in about drag storytime (please check this detail on Wednesday after the 2pm question deadline)?
- Is the council concerned ahead of Wednesday night's meeting and what pre-emptive measures are being implemented? (e.g., is question time going to be restricted; will extra security be hired to keep councillors safe?)
We are anticipating more people than usual to attend our Council meeting this week and ask those attending to do so respectfully and peacefully so everyone in the gallery can feel safe, and Councillors can proceed with decision making for our community.
Security will attend the Council meeting as usual, Victoria Police have been informed and question time will proceed. 30 questions have been received related to the upcoming Monash Library IDAHOBIT Day event and LGBTIQA+ issues.
- The drag storytime event including date/location has been removed from the council's pages. When and why? Is safety at all a factor?
- Unlike in other councils, Monash City Council is intent on not cancelling the event. Why is this an important stance for the council to take?
- Is the council concerned about security for the event? How confident is the council that it can run it safely? What measures are being put in place or are being considered to keep Sam T, council staff and families safe?
- Is there any risk that the event does get cancelled?
Drag storytime introduces children to diverse role models and encourages acceptance, love, and respect of people in our LGBTIQA+ community. Our Monash Library will host this as part of our IDAHOBIT Day celebrations in May, the event was listed on our library website but taken down after it sold out as is usual process.
Drag storytime is a way to challenge the idea that we’re all supposed to look, act, and behave in a certain way. It is about accepting and respecting differences using imagination, play, dressing up and reading stories. Age-appropriate books have been chosen that focus on different family units, kindness, love and the many diverse friends and family members that children may know.
We are committed to delivering the event to support our LGBTIQA+ community. We understand this is not for everyone and have scheduled it outside our regular library programs so that parents who bring their children have made a deliberate choice to attend. We ask people to respect this choice
We will continue to conduct risk assessments to ensure that it can be delivered safely in the leadup to the event.
- Across Melbourne there has been a gradual increase of fringe/conspiracy groups such targeting councils, and there has been a growing presence in Monash with questions about 5g, 20-minute cities. What is the council's view on this rise and how does it hope to tackle the issue?
Like other Councils, we are seeing an increased interest in people attending and submitting questions to Council meetings. To date, this has not disrupted the operation of our meetings and we will work with our community to ensure this remains the case.\
Other councils have not been so fortunate, and we believe this is an opportunity for our sector to work together, share information and ensure our community can safely and easily access their local Council meetings and that Councils can continue decision making for the benefit of local communities.
Issued: 26 April 2023
To: The Age initially, and then multiple outlets following Council meeting
Quoting: CEO Andi Diamond