I took part in a protest in front of the council chambers on the Gold Coast today. We were protesting about the fact that a few weeks ago the GCCC banned peaceful protests on council land that did not have the permission of the Gold Coast CEO. The legislation was introduced by the (unelected) CEO in response to some complaints about rescued battery hens at a Vegan Society protest. The protest was a great success and the new rules were effectively overturned today in council, but one of the things that I found interesting were Cnr Dawn Critchlow's remarks to us outside the chambers.
(I'm the one on the right)
She started by saying she supported our protest, but when asked why she had voted for the new regulations (the vote was unanimous) she said there had been a lot of things on the agenda for that day (the new regs were bundled in with all sorts of other non related things) and that she hadn't read it and there had been no discussion in council about this particular part. Hang on a minute, how the hell can they vote for something when they haven't read it? I shudder to think what other laws are being passed in out governments by politicians that haven't had time to read things, if they haven't read something they should at least abstain.
Fair play to Dawn though, she fessed up, admitted it and apologized. She has to be one of the few honest politicians I've come across. Mayor Ron Clarke on the other hand rushed out to talk to us after Dawn (maybe someone had dobbed her in) and got himself into all sorts of trouble back-peddling and contradicting himself - he did look rather foolish and I think the Local nine news captured a bit of this. I recorded the segment and will upload to youtube when I get a moment.
While I was standing there - I noticed the old council chambers are still vacant - maybe this will be the site for the Gold Coast Ministry of Truth?
