Cumberland City councillor Steve Christou pledges to axe ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremonies

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Cumberland City Councillor Steve Christou has shared that if his party is elected in majority at local government elections in September, he will axe ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremonies.

Mr Christou, who was Mayor of Cumberland City from 2017 – 2022, made the announcement via a video on Twitter.

In the video, Mr Christou said he would scrap “as a matter of priority” the ‘Welcome to Country,’ as well as traditional smoking ceremonies, if his party Our Local Community wins at the elections this year.

“The people of Cumberland and Australia voted overwhelmingly to reject the Voice to Parliament Campaign with Cumberland City Council Local Government area recording one of the highest No Votes in the Country,” Mr Christou said in the video.

The councillor added that the current policy in place didn’t reflect the needs of Cumberland residents, and he wanted to better represent the community.

“[If elected] our focus will be on more accurately representing our diverse community in the issues that are affecting them, primarily cost of living, and housing affordability,” he said. 

Source: The Daily Telegraph.

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