Council

MINUTES

 

Minutes of an extraordinary meeting of the Dunedin City Council held in the Council Chamber, Municipal Chambers, The Octagon, Dunedin on Tuesday 19 March 2019, commencing at 1.00 pm

 

PRESENT

 

Mayor

Mayor Dave Cull

 

Deputy Mayor

Cr Chris Staynes

 

Members

Cr David Benson-Pope

Cr Rachel Elder

 

Cr Christine Garey

Cr Doug Hall

 

Cr Aaron Hawkins

Cr Marie Laufiso

 

Cr Mike Lord

Cr Damian Newell

 

Cr Jim O'Malley

Cr Conrad Stedman

 

Cr Lee Vandervis

Cr Andrew Whiley

 

Cr Kate Wilson

 

 

 

IN ATTENDANCE

Sue Bidrose (Chief Executive Officer), Sandy Graham (General Manager City Services), Graham McKerracher (Manager, Council Communications and Marketing), Simon Drew (General Manager Infrastructure Services), Simon Pickford (General Manager Community Services), John Christie (Director Enterprise Dunedin) and Sharon Bodeker (Team Leader Civic).

 

Governance Support Officer       Jennifer Lapham

 

 

 

Opening.

1       Opening Prayer

 

 

Reverend Wayne Te Kaawa, University of Otago Maori Chaplin, opened the meeting with a prayer, and a response was made by the Council Waiata group. 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

       

2       Formal Expression of Sympathy and Condolence for the Muslim Community

 

The Mayor advised that this was a time for the Council to offer condolences and sympathy to the Muslim community as a result of Friday’s atrocity, in which 50 members of the Muslim community were killed and others injured at two Christchurch Mosques’.

 

The Mayor commented that he wanted to send a message to our Muslim sisters and brothers in the city.  While the non-Muslim community did not suffer the attack and could not feel the pain or loss or hurt that they did, it has been stricken to the core by this horror and it stands with them in solidarity and aroha.  He said that they were not a separate group of outsiders in our community.  “You are part of us.  We are one”. 

 

Councillors spoke of the tragedy, expressing “aroha” for the Muslim community.  Some Councillors expressed their feelings through a reading and waiata.

 

In conclusion the Mayor acknowledged the sentiments that he had received from other organisations throughout the country and the world. 

 

 

Moved (Mayor Dave Cull/Cr Aaron Hawkins):

That the Council:

 

a)         Expresses its abhorrence at the murders of 50 Muslim brothers and sisters in Christchurch on 15 March 2019

b)        Offers its fulsome sympathy and condolences to the whanau and friends of those killed and injured.

c)         Seeks where possible, ways to support those affected by the tragedy.

d)        Exhorts our entire national and civic community to offer aroha, support and compassion to the victims, their families and to each other.

e)         Expresses zero tolerance of any form of abuse, denigration, discrimination or demonisation, no matter how small. 

f)          Expresses this Council’s solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters in the aftermath of this tragedy.

 

 

Motion carried (CNL/2019/040)

              

 

 

 

The meeting concluded at .2.05 pm

 

 

 

 

 

..............................................

MAYOR

    

 

At the conclusion of the meeting Paul Gourlie, supported by Reverend Te Kaawa and Mrs Shakila Rizwan, spoke to the meeting and expressed his appreciation for the sentiments expressed by Councillors.