Traditional Priorities Rub Up Against Progressive Policy: Mayor Speaks After Censure From In-Person Council Meetings
The recently elected City of Whittlesea Mayor Aidan McLindon has spoken out after being barred from attending council meetings in-person on March 11, while being limited to email communication only.
“No idea [when I’ll be welcomed back]. Every day is different. It’s exhausting. I open up my work emails and I get snowballed,” he told The Epoch Times.
“And tell myself that I’m here for the residents, and I’ll do it to the best of my ability.
McLindon won office in November last year on a platform of doing the basics well including roads, rates, and rubbish.
He also moved to establish “child-safe libraries” amid concern about the presence of drag queen shows for kids, as well as graphic children’s books in libraries.
Upon assuming office, McLindon’s views appeared to run counter to staff and fellow members at the regional Victorian council, located 40 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.
McLindon has been outspoken about teaching transgenderism and displaying rainbow or transgender flags in schools.
He also claimed council officers told him not to refer to Indigenous people as his “brothers and sisters,” with the mayor saying officers told him the comment was “insensitive.”
“I’m a Christian, and we’re all brothers and sisters. We’ve been taught that since we were little kids,” he said. “And now all of a sudden I can’t call them my brothers and sisters?”
The Epoch Times contacted Whittlesea Council for additional comment or a response to McLindon’s claims.
The council’s CEO Craig Lloyd apparently took censure action against McLindon due to concerns about staff safety, according to leaked letters to The Age newspaper.
The letters accuse McLindon of “intimidating behaviour” and “aggressive questioning” of staff regarding setting up a “Rainbow Advisory Group” for LGBTs in the community.
He was also censured for allegedly accusing the council of being “politically corrupt” and threatening council members with agency investigations.
The Epoch Times was unable to independently verify these claims.
Meanwhile, McLindon accused the council of not focusing on upgrading roads or keeping council rates low.
“Roads, rates and rubbish [should be a council’s priorities]. But the problem is the state government has cost-shifted so many issues to local government,” McLindon said.
“[City of Whittlesea] was in administration for four years. That’s why I’m so excited for a new era. We can build good plans for the city, but at every point, we’ve been undermined,” he said.
