By Cam Lucadou-Wells
CASEY council has scuttled a proposed meeting with Victorian Multicultural Commission chairwoman Helen Kapalos and state Multicultural Minister Robin Scott.
Councillor Rex Flannery proposed the “forum” to help him understand more about multiculturalism, he told a council meeting on 6 December.
“I want to bring people together, and the community together as one.”
It sparked a lively debate. Other councillors said they weren’t interested in being lectured by the State Government or others outside Casey on the issue.
Mayor Sam Aziz said the event could be a “dangerous development that I don’t think is necessary”.
It could revive past claims about Casey that were “malicious and untrue”, Cr Aziz said.
Politicians could instead learn more from Casey due to its harmonious blending of 156 cultures, he said.
“We don’t need to be told by politicians.
“We’re more harmonious than most in the state.”
Councillor Rosalie Crestani suggested Cr Flannery go and educate himself on the issue rather than dragging other councillors through it.
She said that many who came to Australia came from different nationalities but embraced a single culture.
“Multiculturalism is divisive,” she said.
“There’s a big group in the community which agree with the approach that I want to see.”
Multicultural Minister Robin Scott told Star News in October that he’d like to “extend the hand of support and friendship” to Casey to promote multiculturalism.
He attended a forum in which Narre Warren South MP Judith Couacaud Graley unveiled a pro-diversity banner.
At the 6 December meeting, Cr Aziz said the banner was “embellishing a problem out of thin air … that, in fact, does not exist”.
He said he’d never suffered racism since arriving in Australia 33 years ago.
Earlier Cr Crestani’s notice of motion for Casey to explore a sister city relationship with Israel was passed.
Cr Crestani said it was a “question at this stage” due to some Israeli cities on principle rejecting sister-city relations.
Cr Steve Beardon, who had also dissented on Casey’s trade mission to China, lamented: “It’s like the United Nations tonight.
“I’m just looking at my local community and what I can do there.”
