Media release – Peter Coad, 2 August 2021
Australia Day Award issue
An Australia Day Award in 2015 to a person since convicted of rape should have been formally withdrawn by the Huon Valley Council at the time of the man’s conviction in 2019, said former mayor Peter Coad.
Mr Coad was commenting on a Tasmanian Times article posted 29 July 2021 – Huon Valley Council Refuses Victims Request to Strip Rapists Award – that says the council has not formally withdrawn its Australian Day award from a now-convicted rapist “because that person has relinquished the award himself.”
Mr Coad, who, as mayor in 2015, presented the awards, said that, at the time the awards were made, council believed all recipients were fully deserving.
He said: “It is acknowledged that all Australia Day awardees have the right to relinquish their awards, but that right is removed should they be convicted of a serious crime. It is not up to the convicted person to relinquish such an important and highly esteemed award.”
Mr Coad, questioning why the matter was still an issue for debate, asked: “Why has the council — knowing the convicted person has himself relinquished any rights to the award, including the act of self-relinquishing — not already formally withdrawn the award?
“I am sure most of the councillors who recommended the award in 2015 would have had it withdrawn at the time of conviction in 2019, and advised the community accordingly.”
Mr Coad said he hoped today’s councillors would reconsider the question and formally withdraw the award involved, at the same time telling the Huon community that “it is important Huon Valley Council sends the right message that victims of crime are supported in every respect possible.”
Huon’s former mayor added: “It is also very important that, when convicted persons have served their sentences, they are given the opportunity to rebuild their lives within a community.”
— Mr Coad was mayor of Huon Valley Council 2014-16
