Perth Voice Interactive

A CANDIDATE who lost last month’s elections has called for the Bayswater civic centre’s Australian flag to be flown at half-mast to “join me in my mourning”, part of a jab at the council admin’s decision to fly the Aboriginal flag at half mast after the failed referendum.

Nirmal Singh got 11.5 per cent of the vote in central ward, coming in behind incumbent Steven Ostaszewskyj’s 55.34 per cent and runner-up Rhiannon Italiano’s 33.16 per cent.

Mr Singh has previously sat as an external member on the council’s Inclusion and Diversity Advisory Committee, and has previously asked some provocative questions and opposed the council considering moving citizenship ceremonies off Australia Day.

At the October 31 meeting he took aim at the civic centre’s Aboriginal flag being flown at half mast after the Voice to Parliament referendum failed.

“I was one of the candidates in the recent local elections,” Mr Singh said.

“I come from a background where, from a language perspective, there’s only 518 members of Punjabi-speaking, only 461 members of Hindi-speaking, and 448 members from the Sikh community, which means that I face a whole lot intersectional barriers in coming to the election.

“I lost the election, obviously, so, very devastated. I was wondering if the City would fly the Australian flag at half-mast for a week to join me in my morning?”

Bayswater CEO Jeremy Edwards answered: “That would probably not be the case… doing that for a candidate in a local government election”.

Mr Singh pointed out “when the referendum thing happened, and the result came out, the City flew the Aboriginal flags for a week at half-mast. 

“This was a period when there was no further directive on this – flying the flags at half mast. The council was in caretaker mode. There was no [Reconciliation Advisory Committee] meeting who could have decided.

“The overall referendum result was 60 per cent to the ‘no’. The City didn’t like it, fair enough. All the states said no; The City didn’t like it, maybe. All the polling booths in the City voted no, 51 per cent.

“Why then did the City [fly] the flags at half-mast?”

Mr Edwards answered, “I made the decision to fly the flags at half-mast based on consultation with the reconciliation group committee members”, though a formal meeting had not been convened. 

Mr Edwards noted his decision was also based on a 2018 vote from council when they supported the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the document signed by many Aboriginal representatives calling for the Voice to Parliament. 

Ms Singh said he’d refrain from further comments, beyond noting “the City went against the votes. Anyways.”

Mr Singh has been a colourful commentator in Bayswater’s public gallery in the past year.

In February when the council toyed with moving citizenship ceremonies off of Australia Day, he said the idea “clearly diverts the focus of the City of Bayswater from the new citizens joining the Australian community”.

In March he said the council taking investments out of fossil fuel companies was “hurting the City’s earnings” and putting a financial burden on ratepayers.

He also queried the membership criteria of the council’s Reconciliation Advisory Committee in March: “The eligibility of the Reconciliation Advisory Committee reads that ‘up to seven community members who satisfy one or more of the following criteria’ among others ‘identify as a person of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent’. 

“Would I be eligible for membership of this committee if I identify as a person of Aboriginal descent?” he asked.

The answer was “yes”, but with a note that “as part of the assessment, the City may request confirmation of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait heritage”.