A NSW local government councillor is calling for his council to scrap the current Acknowledgement of Country at the beginning of council meetings – and hopes other councils will follow suit. 

Cumberland City Council councillor Steve Christou is the latest in a growing trend of elected representatives who want to “wind back” the respectful protocol, that he said has been “severely overdone and cooked”.

Cr Christou told the Koori Mail that he believes acknowledging only the Traditional Indigenous Owners at official meetings and events is “discriminatory to all nationalities, regardless of your background”.

Mr Christou said that if he was reelected, he would prioritise dumping “welcome to country and smoking ceremonies”.

“In Cumberland City Council, we have 240,000 residents and only 1,500 are Aboriginal people,” he said.

“We will no longer have an Indigenous policy that represents 0.65% of the Cumberland City Council population…