Roshena Campbell: Councils need to stop wasting time and money debating Gaza ceasefire motions

At a time when many Victorians are struggling to pay their rates instalments, why are councils spending time and ratepayer dollars debating motions about the Middle East?

Since October 7 motions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza have been passed by eight Victorian councils – Merri-bek (formerly Moreland), Maribyrnong, Dandenong, Yarra, Hume, Darebin, Wyndham and Brimbank.

This week the City of Melbourne, where I am a councillor, joined the fray debating a motion calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

It is laughable that the actions of a council in Victoria will have any influence over what is happening on the ground in Israel and Palestine.

But there is plenty that councils can do to de-escalate tensions here in Melbourne.

After the City of Melbourne’s ceasefire motion was made public, I received almost 1000 letters and emails.

One was from a Jewish father who visited the city with his children each weekend. Until recently. After getting an ice cream, his 13-year-old son was identified as Jewish by protesters in the pro-Palestinian march. He wrote that protesters proceeded to cover his son’s body in anti-Semitic stickers.

Every week I hear from Jewish business owners who arrive each morning to find their shops covered in antisemitic material, who are threatened with boycotts and subject to slurs. And visitors who are so intimidated by the chants of the hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists who march through our streets each weekend that they have stopped coming to the city.

Councillors can’t achieve peace in the Middle East. That’s not what we were elected to do. But we can work to ensure we create a city that every Victorian feels safe in.

Many ratepayers rightly point out that councils should stick to their core business – roads, rates and rubbish. If we do that we can make a real difference in our communities.

The motion was lost after more than three hours of debate. I voted against the motion calling for a ceasefire because I wasn’t elected to change foreign policy. But I was elected to keep our city clean.

So while I voted against the ceasefire motion, later that night I voted to swiftly remove the vile racist graffiti and other material plastered across our city. Because city cleanliness is core business.

But it’s time to stop wasting council resources and ratepayer dollars on having these debates.

Let’s get foreign policy out of local government and get back to business.