Five key organisers of last weekend’s Relay for Life in Brimbank have stepped down following accusations of racial stereotyping by a Brimbank council staff member.
Relay chairman Jeff O’Donnell, media liaison officer Les Tarczon and entertainment and recruitment officer Patrick Aumua were among those who quit following comments made at a stakeholder meeting on October 2.
A council officer said the comments had been taken out of context, while community well-being director Neil Whiteside rejected any suggestion of racial vilification.
Mr O’Donnell said the council knocked back the committee’s request to hire a Samoan band to play a two-hour set from 9.30pm. “We were told by a council officer it would attract trouble,” he said. “One of our committee members is a Samoan elder, so we were pretty disgusted with the comment.”
Minutes from the meeting state: “[The] headline act chosen … will attract a lot of youth, which could be a problem. Jeff [O’Donnell] insisted marketing the program would stay low key, but social media is how youth now communicate so it could still attract hundreds of youth, which might swamp the relay itself and lead to altercations between groups of youth at the site – an all- too-common occurrence in Brimbank.”
Mr O’Donnell said he was disappointed to walk away after eight months of planning. He believed 13 of the 33 registered teams had pulled out of the event in protest. Mr Aumua said he was “absolutely devastated”.
Mr O’Donnell disputed council minutes which said police and the council had “big concerns” with a late-night program and adult rides. “The police said they would increase police numbers if we upped security; we had no problem with that.”
Minutes state that five security guards were planned to control an expected crowd of 1000.
Brimbank Inspector Chris Gilbert said police raised concerns with the open location, lack of transport options, noise and parking.
He said at no stage did police raise or support a proposition that ethnicity or cultural backgrounds could cause issues.
In an email to Mr O’Donnell, a council officer said comments at the meeting could have been taken out of context following council’s concerns that “creating a festival atmosphere at an all-night event could create enormous safety and security risks”.
“The comments were made in the context of risk and security issues at local events in the light of recent experience,” the email stated.
‘‘Police as well as local laws officers have much direct experience with frequent altercations between and within youth groups – Islander, Vietnamese and Sudanese, mainly – particularly in Deer Park, Sunshine and St Albans. These are a fact, not a notion, racist or otherwise.”
