A Liberal Party councillor in Sydney’s Hills Shire has suggested Aborigines may have wiped out another race when they arrived in Australia and should not be granted recognition of their original custodianship of the land at official events.
Brooke Collins sparked anger on Thursday after he declined a resident’s request to perform an Acknowledgement of Country at council-run events and meetings, saying to do so would “single out one race” and “divide us more”.
In declining the request, Mr Collins encouraged Kellyville resident Mikaela Gallaway to “find out where indigenous people originated from” and added that “it wasn’t here in Australia”.
“They too turned up on our shores unannounced — however, yes, they were the first here, however they lived a very nomadic life, unlike the life you lead now!” he wrote.
“How do you know they (indigenous Australians) didn’t wipe out another race when they arrived here 70,000 years ago???” he wrote.
“Let’s agree to disagree however we have what we all have today thanks to European settlement … however if they didn’t arrive you and I wouldn’t be here!”
Ms Gallaway had written to Mr Collins at the council in Sydney’s northwest during National Reconciliation Week.
Ms Gallaway, who later posted the discussion on her Facebook page, asked Mr Collins and other Hills Shire councillors to reconsider their opposition to delivering the acknowledgment, a short address delivered as a mark of respect to traditional owners.
She said doing so would go some way towards recognising the nation’s original custodians and minimising their exclusion.
Mr Collins, who is understood to be a staff member in the office of state MP for Hawkesbury Robyn Preston, continued his email by saying he couldn’t change what had happened 250 years ago, a reference to the arrival of European settlers, and therefore we should “all move forward!”.
Councillor Brooke Collins.
NSW Labor called for Mr Collins to be the subject of a code of conduct investigation while fellow councillor, Labor’s Ryan Tracey, called on him to resign.
Ms Preston did not respond to a request for comment.
Comment was sought from the Hills Shire Council. Mr Collins did not answer phone calls. In 2016, he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to athletics and the community. He has previously served on a sporting grants committee convened by federal Liberal MP Alex Hawke.
Ms Gallaway later posted online that she was “sickened” by the remarks of Mr Collins and had “no words” in response to his views about European settlement. “I’m not sure Councillor Collins understands what an Acknowledgement of Country is,” she wrote.
The Hills Shire Council voted on the issue of indigenous acknowledgment in 2017; the motion was voted down by Liberal Party councillors, who hold 11 of the council’s 13 seats.
Labor’s local government spokesman Greg Warren described Mr Collins’s remarks as abhorrent and hurtful, given the ongoing racial divides being witnessed in the US and elsewhere.“I think the councillor’s comments are grotesque, disgusting, highly offensive and deeply inappropriate,” said Mr Warren, who has indigenous heritage.
“They’re totally inconsistent with the good nature of the Australian spirit.
“They need to be retracted, and there needs to be an appropriate course of action through the code of conduct of that council. It’s un-Australian.”
Mr Tracey said Mr Collins should not only apologise but also resign. He backed calls for a code of conduct investigation. YONI BASHAN
STATE POLITICAL REPORTER
Yoni Bashan is The Australian's NSW political correspondent. He began his career at The Sunday Telegraph and has won multiple awards for crime writing and specialist investigations.
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Councillor Brooke Collins of the Hills Shire Council is to be commended.
The Welcome to Country should be scrapped. It's a load of rubbish. This is my country and I don't need to be welcomed to it.
As to the Acknowledgment of Traditional Custodians that can stay as long as it is immediately followed by a Toast to the Queen who is the embodiment of the Crown and thus of our laws and liberties.
