Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was here in parliament on 1 April when news broke that Councillor Preet Singh had stepped aside as mayor of Wyndham City Council because in 2024 he had written a character reference for Kashyap Patel, who was convicted of grooming and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, and signed it as a Justice of the Peace. I was pleased that he had stepped aside and acknowledged his error, and I assumed he would resign as mayor after further reflection.

I rise today at the first opportunity because after five weeks he has not resigned as mayor, and there is, disappointingly, yet another story in the Melbourne press about the city I love, the people I represent in this place and the mayor who refuses to resign. He does this despite losing the support of the councillors who voted to make him mayor and have unanimously called for him to resign and unanimously supported a no-confidence motion. It is untenable for them to work with him as mayor. This has, in fact, seen one councillor resign.

Despite community concern being expressed through petitions and protests, he insists that he is a victim of politically motivated attacks. This is ridiculous. His initial grievous lack of judgement is now compounded by his incapacity to understand the message his reference sends to our community about sickening, sustained criminal behaviour being trivialised. It is further compounded by his failure to see the damage he continues to cause. He should resign as mayor today.