The secret code of conduct complaint
A guest post by Dr Corinna Proehl:
“Never again is now”. This comment of a GP on the official Instagram account of Hastings’s Mayor Wendy Schollum was enough to trigger a bullying, patronizing pack attack by two councillors, aimed to publicly shame one of their constituents.
The councillors involved are Heather Te Au-Skipworth, senior Hastings District Councillor and close ally of the Mayor. A current Green Party Candidate and former Te Pati Māori candidate, most famous for her racist views: “it is a known fact that Māori genetic makeup is stronger than others…”. And Nick Ratcliffe, former Green Party candidate for Tukituki, newly elected (and lowest polling) Hastings District Councillor and political friend of the mayor.
The target Dr Corinna Proehl, a long-serving local GP. She grew up in Germany, in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Her father, a historian at the University of Hamburg, was clear: This shameful history of Jews being killed for being Jews is not allowed to ever happen again. Her own family marked by a tragedy, involving her mentally-ill or “unworthy-of-life” great-aunt Hertha. Her father, Hermann, found out about the upcoming deportation of their only daughter to a “mental institution”. He rang his son, Dr Proehl’s grandfather, and told him: “They don’t have to kill her, I can do this myself”. So he turned on the gas in their apartment in December 1936. The desperate parents Hermann, his wife Selma, and their beloved daughter Hertha all died together. Not only did the remaining family have to come to terms with this tragedy, it also had to be played down as an ‘accident’. Talking about the event openly would have been regarded as opposition to the Nazi Regime.
This makes “Never again” not just a slogan for Dr Proehl. It is a duty to stand up against anti-Semitism, no matter where it appears.
When Mayor Schollum made a post in the wake of the Bondi Terror Attack, where Islamist gunmen fired on a crowd celebrating Hanukkah killing 15 people, she only expressed sympathy for ‘our Australian whanau’. No mention of the Jewish community, anti-Semitism or Islamic terror. So Dr Corinna Proehl stood up to her values and asked a simple question: “How can a community be assured of your support if you don’t even mention their name?…. Never again is now”.
The mayor’s allies saw red, jumping onto the public post, castigating Dr Proehl. Te Au-Skipworth went for her family. Her son, a mayoral candidate, who took a stance against Māori wards, accused of not standing up to racism and gas-lighting her. Attacking family to silence a person is an all too familiar tactic employed by the Nazis. The councillors worked as a pack, claiming that she was not allowed to have an opinion on anti-Semitism because she hadn’t attended all the pro-Palestine protests Nick Ratcliffe had organised. She was called deeply racist, uneducated and told to recluse herself from discussions. Ratcliffe then misused his position as chair of council’s Multicultural Committee to add authority to his attacks. He clearly stated that he was protecting his ‘boss’, Mayor Wendy Schollum. At no point Mayor Schollum stepped in to stop the character assassination on her account.
Secrecy prevails. A Code of Conduct complaint investigation found clear breaches, and the councillors were forced to write apologies. However, the council asked that these be kept secret, ignoring Dr Proehl’s request to publish them on the official channels. Publicly smeared on the Mayors’ official Instagram account, and yet the atonement remains hidden. Further consequences for the bullying behaviour: None. Schollum refusing to strip her allies of any council appointments or positions. Te Au-Skipworth continues to be the most senior councillor after the mayor and her deputy. Ratcliffe is still the Chair of council’s Multicultural Committee, the position he abused to bully Dr Proehl. How Mayor Schollum can still have confidence to continue in this role beggars belief. Bullying an immigrant for whom English is a second language, is now an officially sanctioned role of the Multicultural Committee’s Chairman. Both councillors are still “youth council liaisons”. One wonders what “guidance” these councillors have to offer.
DPF: So Dr Proehl criticised the Mayor for not naming the group that was attacked at Bondi. Then allies of the Mayor attacked her. A secret code of conduct investigation found they were in breach, and they had to apologise. But the outcome and the apologies were to be kept secret! Media should ask why an upheld code of conduct complaint is kept secret.