Indigenous community calls for public apology from Bunbury councillor Betty McCleary over “upsetting” comments

Outraged members of Bunbury’s Indigenous community are calling on a city councillor to issue a public apology over comments she made during a council meeting. During the City of Bunbury’s council meeting on Tuesday, Wardandi elder Garry Calgaret asked councillors if any action would be taken in regard to comments made by Cr Betty McCleary during the July 25 council meeting. In asking his question, Mr Calgaret said while he had no ill feelings towards the council, he was “upset” and “annoyed” by the comments made by Cr McCleary. During the July 25 meeting, councillors got into a heated debate surrounding a motion for an updated version of the City’s Welcome to and Acknowledgement of Country statement. In the midst of the discussion, Cr McCleary described the new statement as “lip service”, saying while it was important to recognise the Aboriginal community, she would not like to recognise those who are not “pure”. When questioned by a fellow councillor what she meant by the term, Cr McCleary clarified “pure in soul and in heart” describing the existing statement as “quite sufficient”. While deputy mayor Tresslyn Smith assured Mr Calgaret that comments made by individual councillors did not reflect on the council as a collective, Mr Calgaret went on to say he had sent a letter to the Minister for Local Government. Following the meeting, Mr Calgaret said he had grown up being told he wasn’t pure and is calling for Cr McCleary to make a public apology. “In context to the question that was asked, her answer ‘pure of heart and soul’ doesn’t fit, it just doesn’t compute that way” he said. “She should have had the decency to just say what she had said and apologised for it. “A lot of my family members, friends and Aboriginal community are upset about it. “Racism for people like us, even on a smaller scale, it brings back memories of what we went through. “My dad’s quite dark and my mum’s white and some of the stuff I could tell you about racism and what I’ve copped over the years as a kid in this town, I wouldn’t want to repeat it because it would be quite rude and nasty.” Mr Calgaret also confirmed he wrote to the Minister for Local Government and received a reply that stated the circumstances of Cr McCleary’s comments “may constitute a minor breach of the Local Government Model Code of Conduct”. “I don’t want to see her get in trouble, I just want her to apologise publicly and for council to back that,” Mr Calgaret said. Mr Calgaret also praised Cr Gabi Ghasseb for attempting to stand up and speak out against racism during that debate. “He’s someone that brings up things we need to talk about,” he said. “As Aboriginal people, we haven’t got a voice and for someone like him to talk for us (is a good thing). “I don’t really know Gabi, I know of him and I just wanted to support him as well.” Noongar woman Dawn Alone-Bennell, who also attended Tuesday’s meeting, echoed Mr Calgaret’s feelings and said she was “disgusted” and “sickened” by the comments made. “I was shocked that we’ve got a person sitting in our Bunbury City Council saying that about us,” she said. “If any Indigenous issue comes before council now, I’ve got no faith that she will support us. “I cried because she not only insulted me, she insulted our grandparents and our ancestors before that who walked on this land.” Cr McCleary was contacted for comment.