Why?

WHY would I want to put an experimental, not fully clinically tested substance into my body that doesn’t stop me getting and passing on Covid-19 variants?

Brad Capes
Coolbellup

The Ed says: Keeping you out of the intensive care ward not a good enough reason?

Not the time nor the place

I ARRIVED yesterday evening at our exciting new Walyalup Civic Centre for the first meeting of our council in the new council chamber.

This new building doesn’t only look great and presents a pleasing visual feature in the newly renamed Walyalup Koort, it is also designed to be one of the most energy efficient buildings of its size in Australia. 

It has an outer mesh skin enabling the windows to be automatically operated to allow the Freo Doctor help with cooling and the LED lighting will automatically adjust to the external light. 

There is a 240kw rooftop solar array with provision for installation of a battery in future. It will be exciting to see how the building performs over time.

The council chamber itself has been designed to sit on the upper ground floor, above the grass slope. This design is a further realisation of meaningful and accessible democracy at the heart of our vibrant Fremantle community.

How disappointing then that what should have been a celebration of a fantastic new building and an inclusive and transparent space was clouded by the anti-vax rent-a-crowd.

Sure, let’s have a discussion about measures to secure the health and ensure the best outcomes for everyone in the midst of a pandemic, but in a way which respects other views and people too. And follow the simple proper process. 

I take my hat off to mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge who handled the sometimes aggressive speakers and hostile crowd as well as possible. 

She calmly explained that, no matter how many spoke to the issue last night, council wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it at that point and the way to get it onto the agenda was to submit the petition they said they would and/or get a councillor to put up a motion. 

Even when councillor Marija Vujcic offered to meet with the concerned group and develop a motion to bring to council, they continued their aggressive actions, wasting the time of everyone else who had to patiently wait to deal with the issues which had been properly put on the agenda.

Meanwhile, I was concerned about my own health in close proximity of a large crowd who are apparently mostly unvaccinated.

Louis de Villiers
White Gum Valley

The Ed says: We noted that two of the speakers were former councillors, and others were from local businesses – hardly a rent-a-crowd, and while they were passionate we didn’t see anything bordering on aggression or hostility. While Ms Fitzhardinge did control public question time well, trying to brush it off as a “state issue” rings hollow given the council’s enthusiasm to weigh into other national topics such as Australia Day or climate change.