Disturbing moment sacked councilor makes ‘shooting gesture’ at mayor during heated meeting
The video shows the former councilor asking the Ipswich mayor to investigate the council’s CEO
A sacked Queensland local government councilor made a shooting gesture at the mayor during a public council meeting.
Footage emerged this week of Ipswich City Council mayor Teresa Harding addressing a meeting in council chambers when former councilor David Palke, who was sitting in the gallery, made a pistol gesture at her.
Mayor Harding told 9News, ‘For that person to point their finger, aim and shoot at me in a public gallery is despicable.
The meeting was held in April to discuss removing politicians’ names from public information signs around the south-east Queensland town, and CCTV of the incident has been seen in recent days.
Mayor Harding voted against restoring the names on the signs as he was replaced, a controversy that recently erupted after Mr. Pulk’s name was removed from a plaque at the Cobb & Co. Heritage Park in suburban Rosewood.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding has written to the council’s CEO asking for a review of the incident
David Palke can be seen on video making a pistol gesture at Mayor Harding from the public gallery
Mr Palke told 9News he was not making a shooting gesture but then appeared to quickly backtrack on his own statement.
‘I absolutely reject this idea,’ he said.
He then asked the reporter: ‘Didn’t you ever pull your hand and make a ‘bang’…shooting gesture?’
Mayor Harding has written a letter of concern to the CEO of Ipswich City Council to review the gesture and investigate stricter regulations around visitors to the public gallery.
Mr Palke was a councilor when the Queensland state government sacked the entire council after repeated corruption scandals.
Mr. Palke himself has not been accused of corruption.
The last straw was when Mayor Andrew Antonioli was charged with fraud in 2018 by the state’s Crime and Corruption Commission.
‘Enough is enough, this will stop, I’m stopping it. The people of Ipswich deserve better,’ Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told state parliament that year.
Mayor Harding was voted in on a platform of a ‘fresh start’ for the city in 2020.
Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding and Hutchinsons MD Greg Quinn ‘top out’ the new council administration building and children’s library when it reaches full height in 2020