Call for more queer consultation

FOLLOWING IDAHOBIT Day on 17 May, members of the local LGBTQIA+ community are asking for more consultation from council on queer events and issues in Moorabool Shire.

LGBTQIA+ people have praised the municipality for holding the flag raising ceremony, the second of its kind in the shire, but some say it’s only one step forward, and more should be done.

One of those people is Patrick Bonello, who said past consultation attempts, and events that had been planned in Moorabool, had fallen through.

“I was invited to sit on the Rainbow Alliance committee…which met at the shire offices to plan for last year’s IDAHOBIT Day, but a lot of the plans that were put in place didn’t go ahead as it was decided that the group itself hadn’t been authorised by the Shire, despite the fact we were meeting at the Shire offices,” Mr Bonello said.

“We were told it wasn’t a group that had been endorsed by the Shire despite being invited to be there by a representative of the Shire that has since resigned.

“The key thing is consultation…the analogy I gave is that if you run an arts event, you invite artists to contribute and have input as to what they want. If you have an Indigenous event, you’d ask First Nations people to provide input.

“It’s a step forward to have had a flag raising, I acknowledge that, but if you look at other shires around Victoria, we fall short of what they’re doing.

“We could be doing more, but there’s no way to know unless we consult. There have been some roadmaps put out on what should be done on the day, but that hasn’t been consulted.”

Moorabool Shire Council CEO, Derek Madden, said the municipality supported LGBTQIA+ groups and community members coming together.

“Council supports a range of events throughout the year, and it was great to see the community turn out to the rainbow flag raising event we held for IDAHOBIT Day,” Mr Madden said.

“We support community members who wish to come together to celebrate the broad range of recognition days throughout the year and encourage residents to consider council’s Community Grants Program to activate events.”