THE defamation saga between Freo’s Mayor and the president of the Fremantle Society continued to keep tongues wagging this week, with both sides refusing to back down.
Last month, Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge posted a video to her social media account “calling out” society president John Dowson over an email where he described a council item on Fremantle’s 2029 bicentenary “divisive” and “disgraceful” because the only external members of a working group were Indigenous elders.
Both have since lawyered up.
Distance
Mr Dowson told the Herald he has been “speaking” to people at the City and gets the sense they’re trying to distance themselves from the mayor’s actions.
“I don’t want to say who I’ve spoken to, I can just say that we do speak to a lot of people and I don’t think I can see much support for what the Mayor is doing.
“The council said they recommend she take [the video] down, and she hasn’t done that, so in a sense she’s adding to the alleged defamation by keeping it going… keeping it online.”
Ms Fitzhardinge refuted Mr Dowson’s claim.
“The only person seeking to drag the City into this ‘war of words’ is John Dowson,” she said.
“I have not received any advice from the City or the City’s lawyers on this matter.”
Mr Dowson reiterated his letter “was not saying don’t include Aboriginal people” and believes “they must” be part of the 2029 acknowledgement, but says the City “should not go down a path that is divisive” in its preparations by excluding others from the table.
“As we get to this point in 2029 and beyond, the reconciliation journey must be something we try and do together and that we don’t divide each other and we don’t demonise each other,” Mr Dowson said.
“This has done reputational damage to the society and to me, and it damages the whole cause of coming together… a lot of people get very scared when [people] start throwing the word racism around, and it totally scares people off.”
Ms Fitzhardinge said the inclusion of an Aboriginal person into the City’s working group to draft guiding principles for Manjaree/Arthur Head was to “ensure adequate representation” in a group which comprised “primarily non-Aboriginal” people.
“I would think most organisations in 2025 where an internal group is meeting on an issue that is of importance to Aboriginal – in fact, in this case, where Aboriginal people have legal rights under the South West Aboriginal native title settlement – would seek to ensure there were Aboriginal people around the table,” Ms Fitzhardinge said.
by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER