Contending motions foreshadow review of City of Albany civic affiliation policy amid sister-city debate

How the City of Albany establishes and discontinues sister-city relationships looks likely to undergo a detailed review based on a pair of motions set to be tabled at Tuesday’s council meeting. A motion set to be tabled by Cr Thomas Brough calling for the City to end its civic affiliation with a Chinese city has been tweaked to include a policy review, while Cr Paul Terry has foreshadowed a separate motion calling for a review if that motion fails. As well as calling for a respectful conclusion of the City’s affiliation with Linyi, Cr Brough’s motion will now call on the City to undertake a “comprehensive review” of its Civic Affiliations Policy in order to “clarify” the City’s stance on sister city arrangements. The addition to the motion was made following feedback from other councillors leading up to Tuesday’s July council meeting. In his reasoning attached to the motion, Cr Brough said elected members had expressed concerns that concluding the Albany-Linyi relationship without a broader policy review “may be perceived as being undiplomatic”. He said he was grateful for the feedback but maintained a “comprehensive policy review is not necessary to identify the specific problems associated with the Albany-Linyi relationship”. “It is clear that there is a fundamental difference in values between many residents and ratepayers of the City of Albany who have been in communication with me and other elected members, and that of Xi Jinping’s CCP,” he said. “Albany’s relationship with Linyi must therefore be considered through the broader perspective of a repressive authoritarian regime.” Cr Brough has circulated a 28-page report among councillors outlining his concerns about the value of the ongoing sister-city-type relationship with Linyi. The City’s Civic Affiliations Policy was last given the tick of approval by the council less than a year ago as part of a periodic review and would not be due for review again until 2025, unless the calls for a review are backed by council. The policy includes reasons for entering into an affiliation, but does not contain criteria for ending such an agreement. The Advertiser understands a number of councillors would be in favour of a comprehensive review of the policy, but remain uncertain about ending the relationship with Linyi beforehand. Cr Terry has foreshadowed an alternate motion he will table if Cr Brough’s motion is unsuccessful. It will request the chief executive review the Civic Affiliations Policy with the aim of including criteria for the council to determine the discontinuation of an affiliation. It would request a workshop and strategic briefing on the policy be held with the council by the end of the year prior to a report being prepared in time for the February 2024 ordinary council meeting. Cr Terry said in his reasoning that he thought ending any affiliation before there were criteria to do so would be “jumping the gun (and) could open up council for criticism for doing so from various industry groups within the community”. “As such I think it prudent and strategic to first set criteria in our Civic Affiliation Policy under which we commence measures to conclude/withdraw from a civic affiliation,” he said. “Workshopping the criteria would enable all elected members to provide input into the process and be better informed.” The foreshadowed motion also suggests recommendations on whether to continue or discontinue the City’s five existing civic affiliations should be included in the report. “Once the criteria is set we can then review all of the current civic affiliations and determine whether they are still relevant and providing the benefits promised at the commencement of the civic affiliation,” Cr Terry said.