21 GEORGE STREET, MORWELL 3840
TELEPHONE 0351354444
WEDNESDAY, 12 JUNE, 2024
12
12
SHOWERS EASING
$1 $1.80 80 iinc. GST
www.latrobevalleyexpress.ccom.au
13
SHOWER OR TWO
POSSIBLE SHOWER
Shock and awe
13
PARTLY CLOUDY
YALLOURN CENTENARY SPECIAL FEATURE
Photograph: Liam Durkin
Valley rivals Morwell and Traralgon played out an absolute epic in the Gippsland League on Sunday. Nothing could separate the sides, with scores all tied up in an unbelievable finish. Local football correspondent and the Express’ own Liam Durkin has labelled it the greatest home-and-away match in league history.
HOW IT HAPPENED - PAGE 21
Councillor suspended By ERIKA ALLEN
LATROBE City Council has removed Melissa Ferguson’s name, photo, and contact details from its website following her one-month suspension for failing to apologise for transphobic social media comments made last year. The website leaves no councillor listed under the ‘South Ward’, which residents and supporters of Cr Ferguson said would affect them negatively, they told the most recent council meeting (held Monday, June 3) Local political commentator Taylah Ling, who runs the Facebook page Valley Insights, which has attracted more than 1000 followers, and its purpose, according to the page, is to keep council 'accountable', addressed the chamber. She said South Ward residents and the broader community were upset and frustrated by the suspension. “A lot of residents didn’t know about this until it was made clear on social media, and I think that many people are actually quite frustrated to hear that the
applicant of this matter was requesting a six-month suspension,” she said. Last year, Cr Ferguson was criticised for a series of Twitter (now called X) comments that an arbitration case found “did not treat members of the public with dignity, fairness, courtesy and respect”. The state government Principal Councillor Conduct Registrar appointed an independent arbiter, Dr Meredith Gibbs, to assess if the councillor had misused social media. Fellow Latrobe Councillor Tracie Lund actioned the arbitration case, arguing that Cr Ferguson acted in her role as a councillor when making the comments she felt breached the council code. The comments – either re-tweeted or written and posted by the councillor to her personal X account, ‘Cr Melissa Ferguson’ – included a shared tweet by an account called ‘Gays Against Groomers’. “Predators are hiding behind the rainbow and using it as a shield to prey on children,” the re-tweet said. “If the American people do not do
something soon, it will be legal to f*** kids. The government will eventually enforce it. These monsters are coming after ALL our children. They are consuming them. The ‘Trans Bill of Rights’ will be the end of all things beautiful.” This was a ‘Gays Against Groomers’ re-tweet. Another tweet Cr Lund submitted as evidence against her fellow councillor referenced “confused kids” who were being forced into a “trans/gender bender” through gender-affirming workplace training and programs. Cr Ferguson called the programs “radical” and condemned people for profiting from them. The Gippsland Pride Initiative called Cr Ferguson’s re/tweets “reprehensible, harmful, hatefully ignorant and worse still, factually incorrect”. At the time, the Express reported that Cr Lund had taken to Facebook to say she was committed to calling out unprofessional and discriminatory behaviour. The arbiter’s report found the tweets
SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL LIVING
Starting School 2025
See pages 13-17 of today s paper
40 + years of craftmanship GP1665942
Morwell Curtains & Blinds ) morwellcurtains@gmail.com morwellcurtainsandblinds Morwell Curtains and Blinds
34-38 George St, Morwell
Call us on 5134 3652 and 0456 665 179
and re-tweets were “disrespectful to trans people by inferring that trans people are paedophiles, grooming children and using their gender identity to legitimise paedophilic activities”. Dr Gibbs also noted the comments do not support council’s obligation to promote gender equality. Cr Ferguson was found in breach of the Local Government (Governance and Integrity) Regulations 2020. Rather than interpreting the comments as made personally, Dr Gibbs found the councillor made her association with Latrobe City Council clear and that even retweeting was a breach of councillor conduct because it ‘endorsed’ the transphobic views. Upon the arbiter’s direction, Cr Ferguson was required to apologise at the council meeting in September 2023, and attend diversity, equality and inclusion training. Continued - Page 30
MOE RECOGNISED PAGE 8
ROTARY AWARDS PAGE 27