A municipal council has come under fire for removing The Queen’s image off the wall during a meeting.
Councillor Tim Stephens of Inner West Sydney removed the photo and sent it to the general manager, who spoke with Mayor Darcy Byrne about it.
Mayor Byrne said, “It’s superfluous today; it’s not like you’re throwing away an asset.”
Some attendees in the gallery can be seen laughing in the meeting footage, while at least one lady can be overheard calling it “disrespectful.”
The Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying, “Flippancy like this from the head of the Inner West community is disgusting.”
He said that although Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a native of Sydney’s inner-west, supported Australia leaving the monarchy, he was acting much more diplomatically in light of The Queen’s passing.
The prime minister is conducting a republican debate while both attending the burial and announcing a national holiday, the speaker said.
Mayor Byrne and Cr Stephens, however, both claimed they had no ill will toward one another.
Mayor Byrne said that his remark about being an “asset” was in reaction to the council’s general manager making light of the fact that his wife would want to hang the image in their own home.
Cr Stephens stated that he simply took the image down because he believed it to be customary in the wake of Charles III’s coronation.
“I believed it fitting and courteous that The Queen’s image be withdrawn off exhibit in the Council Chamber in a time of official mourning,” he stated.
After the meeting, the painting is said to have been placed back on the wall, and Inner West Council is looking for formal guidance on the proper procedure for upgrading the portrait to King Charles.