During this morning’s Byron Shire Council meeting a dispute between the Mayor Simon Richardson and local activist and agitator Fast Buck$ over the pronunciation of Cr Sarah Ndiaye’s name led to the meeting being suspended.
As the dispute escalated Cr Ndiaye is said to have left the chamber.
This was followed by several people from the gallery also leaving. As some members of the gallery left they made a comment about the patriarchy as they walked past Mr Buck$, and he told them to ‘fuck off’. The Mayor then asked Mr Buck$ to leave the chamber as he had contravened the Council’s Code of Conduct.
When Mr Buck$ refused to leave the meeting was suspended and the police called.
A short time later Mr Buck$ was escorted from the chamber by police.
Following the removal of Mr Buck$ the meeting resumed.
OMG !!
No-one could possibly have enjoyed this news report, let alone the needless waste of council chamber time and disturbing escalation.
Speaking of enjoyment..
Sarah’s surname is pronounced as in “enjoy”, but the “oy” is “eye”. Like Enj-eye
Easy to remember and nice to get it right.
Calling the cops is an admission of defeat, of loss of control. Further evidence of the complete ineptitude of our elected council. Buck$ may be a pain, but if Council were competent his agitation wouldn’t be necessary.
Rubbish !
The fact that Police were called to protect a Councillor from caustic comments tells more about the fragile egos of some of these Councillors, and Councils descent into a disconnected model of governance from the community that they are supposed to engage with. Council does not conduct sacred religious services – Council meetings should be the robust coal face between residents and Councils management, which includes accepting, and individuals personally dealing with, engagement with the most critical members of the community it is supposed to represent.
Ole mate Fast Buck$ is an “influencer” wonder if he gets a gig in Netflix’s Byron Bae series.
What was the dispute?
Nothing wrong with protecting individuals from harassment or demanding respectful interaction … but the same standards need to be applied to all meeting interaction. Not all disrespect and harassment is accompanied by histrionics (though often hyperbole) and the more subtle variety can be have greater undesirable impact.
The entire series ?
Mr $Buck has become a parody of his former self, ego driven and childish behaviours always say more about the person than those it is directed at… Imagine being one of the people he directs his diatribe at….