Jo Williams, Melbourne
On February 18, supporters of Green Left Weekly packed 250 people into the Brunswick Town Hall for the annual Comedy Debate fundraiser with Rod Quantock. As with the previous three comedy debates, the Moreland City Council voted to waive the hall hire and grant free use of the venue.
However, there was a lengthy debate among councillors over this decision, a debate that is continuing in the pages of the local Moreland Leader. The two Greens councillors — Jo Connellan and Andrea Sharam — argued against GLW's request for an exemption from the fee, on the grounds that it would be inappropriate for council to subsidise a "political party".
After arguing against the original motion, the two Greens councillors then attempted to move an amendment that only part of the fee be waived. This was because the event was also a fundraiser for Acehnese tsunami relief — $1000 from the proceeds was donated to the grassroots solidarity and aid organisation in Aceh, SEGERA. The council had previously resolved that all tsunami relief events would be granted free hall hire.
According to a report on the council discussion in the March 7 Moreland Leader, Connellan asked a Labor councillor supporting full exemption: "If this was Pauline Hanson's One Nation, would we be giving them free use [of the town hall]?"
In a letter printed in the March 28 Moreland Leader, Connellan argued that granting free use of council facilities was tantamount to asking "the community to subsidise the group. I don't think any political party should be entitled to this." In the same letter, she stated that she supported an earlier decision to grant free use of the hall to a religious group.
Green Left Weekly is not a political party, but an alternative newspaper that seeks to give voice to and build campaigns in support of people marginalised and/or vilified by the mainstream media — workers, Aborigines, refugees, etc. Progressive local councils should assist grassroots organising where funding is otherwise unavailable.
The arguments made by the two Moreland Greens councillors are hypocritical given that the Greens receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in public funding for their parliamentary election campaigns.
When approached for comment by GLW, Gurm Sekhon, Victorian co-convenor of the Greens, explained that unless there is a specific policy in place it is up to each Greens branch or member to form their opinion of such issues.
The arguments and vote against providing council assistance to GLW by the Moreland Greens councillors are disappointing. GLW has offered significant support for and promotion of the Greens as part of broader attempts to forge a strong left alternative in opposition to the major political parties.
From Green Left Weekly, April 6, 2005.
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