Liverpool City Council’s Monday night meeting began with full councillor attendance and a prayer by the local Anglican minister for councillors to “show us how to love our neighbours”.
It ended with a mostly empty chamber after two councillors were expelled, three walked out, and a security guard intervened when one councillor said a colleague’s father would be “rolling in his grave” over his son’s conduct.
The scenes, which independent deputy mayor Peter Harle described as the worst he’d seen in his two decades on the council, capped an extraordinary week, during which the United Services Union launched legal action against Mayor Ned Mannoun, and independent councillor Peter Ristevski wrote on Facebook that Mannoun needed to be “tarred and feathered down the main street of Liverpool” as he called on his constituents to protest against the council.
During a discussion sparked by new Labor councillor Zeli Munjiza about removing “cultural festivals” and replacing them with “community festivals”, Liberal councillor Matthew Harte said Labor, “the tribune of the working-class people” would need to cut staff to fulfil Munjiza’s request. Labor councillor Sam Karnib yelled: “Point of order! Point of order! Point of order! Point of order!” He told Mannoun that Harte was “attempting to mock us”.
When Mannoun rejected his claim, Karnib accused him of being “in [Harte’s] pocket” and Mannoun asked him to withdraw the “derogatory” comments.
“I won’t withdraw the comments,” Karnib responded. After several minutes of debate, Mannoun expelled Karnib from the meeting and called for a five-minute break. During the break, according to four people present, Liberal councillor Richard Ammoun told Karnib that his father, Labor councillor Ali Karnib, who died last year, would be “rolling in his grave” over his son’s conduct.
That comment sparked a heated discussion between the pair, and a council security guard stood between them.
When the council returned to session, Labor councillor Ethan Monaghan screamed that Mannoun and others were “disgusting” and that he didn’t respect Mannoun’s leadership. Mannoun asked him to apologise, and after he failed to do so, ejected him from the meeting too. Munjiza walked out, and Labor colleague Mira Ibrahim followed.
“I knew Sam’s father, he was an honourable man,” Ristevski said. “[He] would probably kick you in the backside for saying that.” He pushed for the meeting to be suspended, but Mannoun pushed ahead.
“I’ve been on council now for almost 19 years,” said Harle, the deputy mayor. “This is the worst term of council I have ever been on. It really is. It’s disgusting, the behaviour that people are conducting themselves in this council, I’m so sorry about this. I do not think the community should suffer these events.”
At the end of the meeting, Ammoun apologised for the remarks. “That’s not normally my nature … honestly, some things you can tolerate, but some things need to end somewhere.”
Karnib and Ammoun were contacted for comment.
Anthony Segaert is the Parramatta bureau chief at The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously an urban affairs reporter.Connect via X or email.
