Councillors meet over same-sex parents book furore

Cumberland Council’s meeting on May 1 was as regular as any other.

The dozen councillors present had a lot to discuss: a traffic report, a cycling strategy, a study into local shops… and item C05/24-506: Adoption of the Library Strategy 2024-2027.

The strategy, which would set the direction for Cumberland’s eight libraries for the next four years, had been unanimously approved by the council last year, and had spent the past few months on public exhibition. Councillors just needed to give it the final tick of approval.

But Councillor Paul Garrard, founder of the conservative party Our Local Community (OLC), was not happy that the strategy had failed to address usage of a historical site the council owned. During his speech, the mayor asked him to withdraw a comment he made labelling a female councillor a “witch doctor” (he insisted he said “which doctor”).

“I didn’t know you were a witch, or a doctor,” he added, before later clarifying: “No one on that [library] committee is a witch.”

And as fellow Our Local Community councillor Steve Christou interjected, demanding to know why his colleague was forced to apologise, Labor Mayor Lisa Lake asked: “Councillor Christou, are you going to disrupt all evening?”

Garrard responded: “Oh we haven’t started yet. Don’t you worry.”

They hadn’t. Within a minute, Christou was on his feet holding up a printed photo of a book, Same-Sex Parents by Holly Duhig, which is aimed at children aged six and older.

Christou said “distraught” parents had contacted him after finding it stacked in the toddler section of the Merrylands Library. He moved an amendment to “take immediate action to rid same-sex parents books/materials in council’s library service”.

“We hope to implement a policy that these kinds of books, same-sex parents books, don’t find their way to our kids … Our kids shouldn’t be sexualised! It’s that simple … This is not Marrickville or Newtown,” Christou said.

He cited the “400 residents storming this chamber not long ago” – a reference to protesters who previously opposed drag queen story times at the council.

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“I hope … we don’t have to consult parents again and bring back 300 people to the chamber.”

The amendment passed 6-5 after Labor councillor Mohamad Hussein voted apart from his party to support the amendment.

Garrard, a fortnight later, told the Herald the motion was created “with a bit of undue haste” mid-meeting and was worded incorrectly.

But that didn’t stop it from getting passed by the council. After the Herald broke news of the ban, condemnation of the move came from the NSW premier, Labor colleagues and other community members.

Arts Minister John Graham threatened to pull funding for Cumberland’s libraries, saying the decision broke guidelines on freedom of access to information.

Christou admitted afterwards during a media storm that he had not even read the book.

A rescission motion led by four Labor councillors – along with a letter Graham wrote to the council – will be the subject of debate at tonight’s meeting.