During a council meeting, an elderly council member yelled at the female deputy mayor, urging her to ‘come over and expel’ him.
Councillor David Grace of Kingborough Council said that he was altering his vote on an issue via a video transmission from the meeting in Tasmania.
Deputy Mayor Jo Westwood then proceeded to ask Mr Grace if he had any questions before instructing him not to interject, causing him to scream at her.
‘I’m warning you right now if you keep interjecting I will eject you from this part of the meeting,’ Ms Westwood said.
‘You eject me?’ Mr Grace responded. ‘You come and take me out. You’re most welcome, come across.’
‘Do you know what? You come across and eject me from the meeting, girl,’ he added.
The audio from the clip briefly cuts out before the elderly councillor tells the deputy mayor that he’s ‘entitled to debate things on behalf of the council’.
Ms Westwood stated he was entitled to a ‘set number of minutes’ like the other council members, but said he was starting to ‘push’ things.
‘Don’t you threaten me,’ Mr Grace shouted back, interjecting her again.
‘I’ve had enough of you lot threatening me. I’ll be going off my head here one night, and I will tear this place apart.’
The Deputy Mayor then demands Mr Grace leave the premise, pointing towards the door.
He tells her to ‘go and get the cops’ in response, which results in Ms Westwood picking up her phone.
‘Is that what I need to do to eject you from the meeting?’ she asks. ‘Are you leaving or I am I calling the police?’
Ms Westwood and Mr Grace continue to argue before another councillor suggests a recess.
Upon their return to the meeting, the pair reportedly apologised to one another.
Mayor Paula Wriedt revealed in a statement to 9News that ‘unwelcome comments’ were made during the meeting.
‘There are set rules that councillors must follow and allocated time for comments allowed from everyone,’ she said.
Ms Wriedt claimed Ms Westwood was ‘chairing the meeting at the time’ and ‘following procedures’ so that each council member had the appropriate amount of time to speak about each agenda item.
‘Cr Grace challenged her ruling and things got heated,’ she stated.
‘The meeting was briefly adjourned and upon returning, I am glad say both Councillors apologised for their heated exchanges. The Council was then able to continue to work professionally through the remaining agenda items.’