A Latrobe city councillor in south-east Victoria is defending her right to post anti-Islamic material on social media.
Councillor Christine Sindt posted a photo on her Facebook pageof herself at the Reclaim Australia rally in Melbourne with a sign saying, ‘I love bacon, not paedophilia’.
She posted the photo on Easter Sunday and has since followed up with a series of anti-Islamic messages.
At least two of her fellow councillors are calling for Victorian Local Government Minister Natalie Hutchins to take action.
Cr Sindt said she attended the rally as a representative of her constituents in the Latrobe Valley.
“I would suggest that Islam does not support the eating of bacon and Mohammed took a girl at the age of six and consummated the marriage when she was nine years old,” she said.
“In Australia that is considered to be paedophilia.
“I believe that as a Latrobe city councillor I should be able to go along and say I love bacon and I do not support paedophilia, which is a basic Aussie tenet.”
Local Government Minister refers issue back to Latrobe City Council
Ms Hutchins has referred the issue of Cr Sindt’s comments back to the Latrobe City Council.
She said Cr Sindt had misused her title to run an agenda that was not one of the council’s.
“Freedom of speech is an important principle but you can’t hide behind that principle to launch racial or religious-based attacks on other people, and certainly you can’t use your council-based title to do such a thing,” she said.
Ms Hutchins said there was no provision in the Local Government Act to sack Cr Sindt.
She said she was committed to reviewing the Act to improve the governance of individual councillors but the legislation had not been changed yet.
Ms Hutchins said the Latrobe City Council could ask for an investigation into Cr Sindt’s conduct.
“Oh I think that anyone that becomes an elected councillor needs to represent their residents firstly and ‘foremostly’, not their individual views on a political issue, and if they’re going to put those views out there under the guise of the council banner, well that’s plain wrong,” she said.