Last September 24 during the Council meeting, the two assessors had a heated exchange during which Victor Macri took offence after Louise Steer requested him to table his birth certificate to confirm he was born in Camperdown.
The meeting began with the debate on controversial a motion, tabled by Cr Macri, to allow property owners to cut down trees that are within three meters of the house foundations or the garage. The Greens firmly opposed the proposal and, in her speech, Cr Steer tabled a petition signed by over 2400 "citizens of the Inner West". Victor Macri interrupted his colleague's statement saying that numerous signatures were from people who were not from the Inner West. At that point Louise Steer replied: "neither are you".
Mayor Darcy Byrne immediately adjourned the meeting for five minutes, but the exchange of barbs continued during the break. Cr Macri pointed out he was born in the Camperdown as Cr Steer, but she cast doubts on that saying: "You said you couldn’t speak English (when you went to school). "Do you want to see my birth certificate?" Cr Macri retorted. "Yes", replied Cr Steer. The quarrel on the competence of English was judged "racist" by Cr Macri who agreed to table his birth certificate at the next meeting.
On October 8, Cr Macri presented his birth certificate confirming that he was born in Camperdown. At the same meeting, Cr Louise Steer formally apologised. “My comments on the 24 September meeting were unacceptable. I apologise unreservedly to Cr Macri for the hurt he has experienced from these comments.
Cr Macri then presented a motion calling for changes asking to do something about discrimination proposing to “use the code of meeting practice to eject members of the council who transgress the code”. The motion was passed.
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