Latest news with #LouiseElliot
Sky News AU
29-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Hobart City Council rejects push to make its Acknowledgement of Country speeches optional after councillor argued they were 'ritualistic', similar to 'holy communion'
A proposal to make Acknowledgement of Country speeches optional for Hobart City Council meetings has been voted down despite the push being endorsed by a high-profile Indigenous campaigner. Cr Louise Elliot put forward a motion to remove the item from the agenda and for it to instead take place prior to official proceedings. Cr Elliot likened the practice to religious rituals like "baptism" and "holy communion". "Country in an Aboriginal context is much broader than the geographical term in English language. It's a much more spiritual setting and there's a complex set of things that underpin that. It's much more than the tangible items," she said. "This is about the central concept of consent and giving people the option as to whether they engage with the ritual or whether they don't." Cr Elliot denied the move was about erasing Tasmania's violent history. "Acknowledging history is a really good thing. I don't think we need to do it on a hourly, daily, or even weekly basis,' she said. 'We all know that Aboriginal people were here well before colonisation. We all know that terrible things happened as part of that process, which is really sad." The motion received unexpected support from local Aboriginal activist and Palawa person Nala Mansell. 'I completely agree that offering nothing but words at the beginning of every single meeting, gathering, parliamentary sitting to acknowledge all the horrible things that have happened to Aborigines, and continue to happen to Aborigines, becomes tokenistic,' she told The Mercury. 'The words end up making the person offering those words feel like they've contributed somehow, while offering no benefit whatsoever to Aboriginal people. 'It doesn't give us back any of our stolen lands, it doesn't stop Aboriginal incarceration rates from rising.' Palawa elder Uncle Rodney Dillon said Acknowledgement of Country still has a role in Australia. "As Aboriginal people we feel recognised when we do Welcome to Country. We feel that we're part of the community and the community understands us," he said. "This is not about jamming something down someone's throat. This is about love and putting our arms out and cuddling each other. It's the opposite to what she thinks it is." Uncle Dillon also criticised Cr Elliot's framing of the issue around consent. "We didn't consent to them taking our land either and we didn't consent to them locking up our kids. I know a lot about consent," he said. A council spokesman said there is no formal policy requiring the chair to deliver an Acknowledgement of Country at the start of council meetings or workshops. "However, this practice has been consistently observed since 2015 and is observed by all Tasmanian councils and all capital city councils across Australia," they said. Cr Elliot maintains she was made to feel it was compulsory when chairing committees. "I was told 'no' it needs to stay as an agenda item and my choice then was either to say something that I didn't believe in, which I can't do, or to skip the agenda item and be accused of not following the agenda," she said. "By default being put in that predicament shows that it's not optional."
ABC News
28-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Hobart City councillors reject push to drop Acknowledgement of Country
Hobart City councillors have voted to keep Aboriginal acknowledgements in official council meetings and events, with some labelling a proposal to remove them an attempt to ignite a culture war. The council debated a motion, which called for Welcomes to Country and Acknowledgements of Country to be removed from meeting agendas and the actual proceedings of council-run events, during its meeting on Monday afternoon. The motion was brought by councillor Louise Elliot, who likened the practices to "quasi-religious rituals" and suggested they instead take place before meetings and events got underway so those who did not wish to take part could avoid them. After more than an hour of debate on Monday evening, the council voted eight-four to reject the proposal. The meeting opened with Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds delivering a personalised Acknowledgement of Country, which explored the history of shell necklace making among Aboriginal women in Tasmania. Multiple councillors and community members in the chamber wore black T-shirts emblazoned with the Aboriginal flag in what appeared to be opposition to Cr Elliot's motion. Cr Elliot introduced her motion by declaring that Acknowledgements of Country and Welcomes to Country were "overused, divisive, demeaning, tokenistic, and ineffective". She said her suggestion was about "consent and choice" and that it sought to make the practices optional for those who did not want to participate in them. "It's obvious that these are political and quasi-religious rituals," she said. "I think it being left on the agenda is a form of harassment and I think it exposes the council." Some of the councillors who supported the motion, including Will Coats and Marti Zucco, suggested the acknowledgements could be perceived as inflammatory or that they could make people uncomfortable. However, most of the elected members were firmly opposed to the suggestion and stressed the importance of maintaining the practice as an important gesture of respect and acknowledgement of the state's history. Councillor Mike Dutta, among others, argued the inclusion of a short statement at the start of a meeting did not restrict or infringe upon someone's freedom of thought or religion. "It is essential that we continue to prioritise this gesture, not just as a formality, but as a genuine expression of our commitment to reconciliation," Cr Dutta said. Multiple councillors said the discussion was unnecessary because the practice was already optional, with no formal policy requiring it and no punishment if the chair of a meeting chose not to include it. Some elected members, including Ben Lohberger, questioned the motives behind the motion. "It is political grandstanding reminiscent of the culture war politics we get from the likes of One Nation and [US President] Donald Trump and it doesn't belong in this room," Cr Lohberger said. Deputy Lord Mayor Zelinda Sherlock echoed the sentiment, describing the motion as a "contrived culture war". "If you refuse to acknowledge the murders of innocent men, women and children, that's your choice," Cr Sherlock said. "But don't frame it as, 'I'm not given a choice and I don't have consent,' [because] you are not forced to do it at all." An attempt to have the debate moved to a council workshop was rejected before the original motion was ultimately shut down. This was the third time this year a Tasmanian council rejected an attempt to remove Acknowledgements of Country from meetings. Similar motions failed in Burnie and Flinders Island. Reconciliation Tasmania chief executive Pauline Cook said it showed the majority of Tasmanians were in favour of the practice and understood its importance for healing and justice for Aboriginal people. "[The acknowledgements] are a really effective way of slowly changing hearts and minds through regular repetition," Ms Cook said. "They honour the truth by saying, 'We know whose land this is, we recognise history and we are willing to say it out loud.'" Despite this, Ms Cook said it was important the practices were not a substitute for the "real work of addressing structural change". During the Hobart council debate, some elected members called for the creation of a policy surrounding the Acknowledgement of Country so the rules were clear. Council staff suggested the creation of a procedure for the delivery or non-delivery of an acknowledgement was something that could be explored going forward. Despite her motion failing, Cr Elliot vowed to continue pushing to have the acknowledgements removed from official council proceedings. "I'm looking forward to getting some advice and it's a bone I won't drop," she said.
ABC News
24-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Hobart City councillor proposes moving Acknowledgement of Country from official proceedings
A Hobart City councillor is calling for Aboriginal acknowledgements at official events to take place before proceedings begin, so they are not "forced on all attendees". Councillor Louise Elliot has likened the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country traditions to "religious rituals", which she said were being forced on people "against their will". Cr Elliot has lodged a motion calling for the practices to instead take place before meetings and events officially begin, so those who wish to take part can arrive early. "Many community members are completely fed up with being welcomed to their own country and having these beliefs forced on them that they don't subscribe to," Cr Elliot said. Aboriginal rights campaigner Nala Mansell, from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC), described Cr Elliot's reasoning as "exaggerated" and "absurd", but agreed the practice did not need to take place at each meeting. A Hobart City Council spokesperson said there was no formal policy requiring the practice at the start of council meetings or workshops. However, they said the practice had been consistently observed in Hobart since 2015 and was conducted by all Tasmanian councils and all capital city councils. "The inclusion of an Acknowledgement of Country aligns with … strategic documents and cultural protocols and comes from many years of engagement and feedback from the Palawa community," the spokesperson said. Cr Elliot said while it was not mandatory, that did not accurately reflect her experiences. "I chaired a couple of meetings and … I was told 'no, it [the acknowledgement] couldn't be removed' from the agenda," she said. "I was left in a predicament where I could either say something I did not believe in or skip over an agenda item." When faced with this, Cr Elliot said she updated the acknowledgement to recognise "each and every Australian" and, another time, skipped it entirely. She did not receive any punishment or reprimand for doing so, though she said some of her colleagues "definitely raised their eyebrows". Cr Elliot argued the concept of Country was a "spiritual belief" for the Aboriginal community, and therefore these traditions were like religious rituals. "It would be highly inappropriate for Christian rituals, whether it's Communion or the throwing of holy water, to happen in a local government setting," she said. Ms Mansell, the campaign coordinator for the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre and a Palawa woman, said this logic was simply incorrect. "It's completely absurd to suggest that acknowledging the fact of Aboriginal history in this state is similar to religious rituals," she said. "We don't just believe that we owned the land and we don't just believe that our country was invaded — they are facts." Despite this, Ms Mansell agreed with the sentiment that the practice could become "tokenistic" when repeated at every meeting. "I don't see the benefit of offering symbolic gestures at the beginning of meetings because they provide no benefit whatsoever to Aboriginal people," she said. She said politicians should instead acknowledge Aboriginal people by addressing the issues caused by the dispossession of their land. Reconciliation Australia previously described the practices as "simple but profound ceremonies" that allow Australians to express respect for traditional owners. Almost every council in the country, with some exceptions, includes the acknowledgements as part of official council proceedings. In May, a Flinders Island councillor put forward a motion to stop the practice at council events, but it failed to get a seconder. Cr Elliot's motion will be debated at the Hobart City Council meeting on Monday. Cr Elliot said the "composition of the council" meant she did not expect it to be supported.
