“Abuse is Abuse, or I’ll just claim myself to be Aboriginal” - Councillor Ian Olsen 

It began with Local Councillor, Jessica Jurd, interpreting a cultural policy, as being like “The Voice”. Councillor Ian Olsen then went on to  comment that acceptable behaviour within the policy comes only from “White Australian Citizens” and furthered this by inferring “Lebanese” and “Aboriginals” are all abusive, stating “Abuse is Abuse”. He then continued by claiming if he “identified as Aboriginal”, it would make it acceptable to “offend people, as a Councillor.”

In todays society, this kind of hate speech and racism should not be tolerated at all, least of all in an Council meeting with elected representatives who are supposedly representing all communities and cultural backgrounds. 

We are calling for the immediate action from all levels of government, to remove elected officials that make racist and derogatory comments when voicing their personal opinions. Stronger penalties need to be applied. 

Cessnock City Council Ordinary Meeting, Wednesday 19th April 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MppMKLDpAYA

Time Stamp: 1:16:25 - 1:22:02