Cr Owen Cosgriff moves a motion of notice at Greater Bendigo's council meeting.

Bendigo Advertiser

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00:00No urgent business so we'll now move on to a notice of motion. Councillor Cosgrove.

00:07Thank you Mayor. I'll just note that the notice of motion has circulated started

00:15with the title notice of motion to be debated at the ordinary council meeting of July 21st 2025.

00:23And so just reading it as it's written. So that council recognises that the unprovoked escalation

00:35of violence towards the people of Iran by the State of Israel this week- Councillor Cosgrove,

00:39there's a process that we need to go through around the notice of motion. No, the notice of motion,

00:45you only read the notice of motion I believe. No, he does read it. He reads the whole motion now?

00:51That's correct, isn't he? My apologies. Sorry, my apologies Councillor Cosgrove.

00:56Thank you. I didn't like the... Let's start again.

01:04Okay, so that the whole text would read. Notice of motion to be debated at the next

01:11ordinary council meeting July 21st 2025. That council recognises that the unprovoked escalation

01:18of violence towards the people of Iran by the State of Israel this week fits a pattern of behaviour

01:23which stretches back to its foundation. A foundation which was achieved by a campaign of terror

01:28against unarmed civilians who were slaughtered in vast numbers or forced to flee by their hundreds

01:34of thousands with only the clothes on their backs and their house keys in their pockets.

01:39That council agrees with award-winning journalist Gideon Levy, sorry, award-winning Israeli journalist Gideon

01:48Levy when he stated in Haaretz on the 11th of June, a majority of Israelis, as public opinion polls indicate,

01:56support the slaughter and are even waiting for the population transfer that is to come in its wake.

02:02Therefore, the pressure and the punishment must be directed at Israel in its entirety.

02:08That council note that while ordinarily the crime of genocide is difficult to prove,

02:12as it requires international courts to prove intent on the part of governments or other actors,

02:17in the case of the genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza, this is not difficult at all.

02:22As early as the 9th of the 10th, 2023, Defence Minister Yoav Galat claimed,

02:27I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food,

02:42no fuel, everything is closed. The council note that since the ceasefire in Gaza was broken

02:49unilaterally by the State of Israel on the 18th of March, 2025, they have done exactly as Mr Galat

02:55said they would. One, Israel has used starvation as a weapon of war, denying any aid from any land

03:02crossing or by sea for over three months. Two, what aid has come through is controlled by the State

03:08of Israel within the Gaza envelope, which has led to a series of massacres, with at least 1,100 civilians

03:16having been killed by Israel while queuing for food in the last month. Three, the complete breakdown

03:23of the health system of Gaza, both due to the Israeli embargo of life-saving medical supplies,

03:29but also the systematic physical destruction of hospitals and hospital staff, such as the targeting of

03:35Dr. Ala al-Najjar, whose nine children and husband, Dr. Hamdi al-Dajjar, were targeted and killed by an

03:43Israeli bomb. Or the 15 paramedics and civil defence workers who were shot by Israeli ground forces and

03:50buried in a shallow grave, covered by their ambulances, which had been crushed by a tank. Or

03:56Hussam Abu-Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, who is currently, tonight, being starved and tortured in an

04:03Israeli dungeon. Four, the lack of potable water caused both by the deliberate destruction of

04:09water purification infrastructure, as well as the blockade of fresh water being imported into Gaza,

04:14has led to massive outbreaks of preventable diseases such as typhoid and cholera. The overwhelming

04:20proportion of the victims of these diseases are children, very young children, who are dying in

04:26their tens of thousands for want of clean water to drink. Five, because of the systematic destruction

04:33of university campuses and school buildings alongside the targeted assassination of many academics,

04:39including Dr. Rifat al-Arir, Israel stands accused of scholasticide by the UN Human Rights Commission.

04:48Six, Israel has targeted and killed 176 journalists in Gaza alone as of the 12th of June. The Committee to

04:55Protect Journalists points out that only 69 journalists were killed on all sides during

05:00the totality of World War II. Many people in Bendigo, in the Bendigo community, be they Palestinian

05:05themselves, be they of the Muslim faith or simply people of conscience, have watched in horror as this

05:11depraved violence has unfolded before their very eyes. They have waited for their government to do the

05:16right thing, to expel the ambassadors, to join the ICJ case and embargo trade with the apartheid state of

05:23Israel. Having seen no leadership from any other level of government on this question, we consider

05:28it our responsibility as civic moral leaders to lend our voice to the growing international chorus

05:35which says that never again means never again for anybody. We consider that doing anything less to be

05:41an act of great cowardice and a betrayal of that part of our community which is suffering so acutely.

05:46Actions. Councillor Cosgrove, please hold. Councillor McElrath.

05:50Point of order. I believe that last statement to be

05:56objectionable and offensive language. Can you explain why, Councillor McElrath?

06:03It's basically trying to sway the way that we will vote on this motion and

06:08telling us that if we don't vote in a certain way that we're being cowards.

06:11Thank you very much for putting that point. We'll continue now with the actions.

06:19That the city of Bendigo undertakes a financial audit to determine the moral risk of investments

06:25it may have which may benefit the apartheid state of Israel.

06:32I'll repeat that, sorry. Actions. That the city of Bendigo undertakes a financial audit to determine

06:36the moral risk of investments it may have which may benefit the apartheid state of Israel and

06:42that the Council extend an invitation to the Palestinian community to raise their flag on

06:47the 15th of May, 2026, Nakba Day, at the library in line with Council's flags and symbols policy.

06:56Councillor McElrath.

06:57Thank you, Mayor Metcalfe. I wish to move a procedural motion that the proposed motion

07:06raised as a notice of motion by Councillor Cosgriff be put to the Council for determination immediately

07:13and that we proceed directly to a vote with no debate.

07:20I have a seconder for Councillor McElrath's motion. Thank you, Councillor Prince.

07:24We need to vote on that now. Mayor, I note that the governance rules allow you to

07:38deny a procedural motion where insufficient debate has occurred on a substantive motion. I ask you to

07:45consider that rule at this time. I have considered it. Thank you, Councillor Hurrell. I believe that

07:50there's been enough debate put into the motion tonight. So the procedural motion will go up for vote.

07:57I'll put the procedural motion. Councillor McElrath has raised. All those in favour?

08:04Those against?

08:07Motion is carried.

08:10So I'll now call for...

08:11We actually have to have a vote on the notice of motion. Do I have a seconder for the vote on the

08:20notice of motion? In the interest of debate, I second the motion. Thank you, Councillor Hurrell,

08:27but there is no interest in debate tonight because that's already been decided. There will be no debate.

08:32So you're seconding the motion as it is. I now put the motion. All those in favour?

08:37Yes, your motion. Your motion, Councillor Cosgrove. Put the motion. All those in favour?

08:49Those against? The motion is defeated. Councillor Cosgrove is the only one that supported it.

08:57May I move on to the Mayor's report? So I will begin by talking about in the last month,

09:03we've actually had the opportunity to speak at volunteers and reflect on the great work that

09:09our volunteers do. We've done this at National Volunteer Week at the Long Gully Neighbourhood Centre

09:14and also we did it at the morning tea for our volunteers at Alumbra Theatre and that was great

09:20to be able to acknowledge the great work that they do. We've also had a citizenship ceremony with 74

09:27people in the Bendigo Town Hall. It is great that people do actually become citizens here in Bendigo

09:35and we always hope that they stay here in Bendigo when they do become citizens here.

09:40We've met with the City of Greater Bendigo Youth Councillors and I'm going to say that was a really

09:44good meeting. There was a lot of information that came out of it, out of that meeting that we will

09:50need to respond to as councillors and we will do that formally back to the Youth Council before we

09:55meet again. So I will talk about that. It's great to be out at the informal gathering for the Arch of

10:02Triumph 100 Year and a V-

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