A leading Jewish organisation has accused the Greens of harbouring anti-Semitic attitudes after an alleged party member goaded a Jewish local government councillor with a parcel containing 30 silver coins — an inflammatory and racially offensive act symbolising betrayal.
Melbourne’s Port Phillip Council will update its security for public meetings after the incident on Wednesday in which a man approached Deputy Mayor Dick Gross during a recess to urge him to open a parcel that had been placed on his desk.
A review of CCTV footage has since established that the man, who regularly attends council meetings and is also understood to be a Greens donor, and another member of the public were responsible for placing the coins on Mr Gross’s desk before the meeting began.
The incident, which has been widely condemned, comes after a recent mayoral race in which Greens hopeful Katherine Copsey lost to Bernadene Voss.
Ms Copsey later took to Facebook to complain that Labor and Liberal-aligned councillors had “teamed up to block me”. Mr Gross is a Labor member.
Read the article by Rebecca Urban in The Australian (subscription required).