Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch has called for a regional councillor to resign after he made racially charged comments about her on Facebook.
Fraser Coast Councillor James Hansen discussed her skin colour in a comment which was posted on Saturday and has since been deleted.
“Apparently she’s supposed to be black David, looks as white as you and I,” he wrote.
Ms Enoch, the first Indigenous woman elected to Queensland parliament, said the comments were “nothing less than racist”.
“It is unacceptable that a person’s race, their appearance, their cultural connections should be questioned as part of an entirely unrelated topic of discussion,” she wrote in a statement.
“It is also extremely concerning that the comments have been made by an elected councillor because they do not reflect the wider community.”
Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour said he was “deeply upset” by the remarks.
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept,” he said.
“It was an unacceptable thing for anyone to say, let alone a community representative.”
Cameron Costello, the CEO of Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation, said the comments were “highly offensive”.
“To determine Leeanne’s Aboriginality by the perceived colour of her skin is offensive to her bloodline connection to Quandamooka Country, which runs back thousands of years,” he said.
“QYAC stands with Leeanne as she seeks justice over this slur by Councillor Hansen. We call on him to immediately and unreservedly apologise to Ms Enoch and all First Nations people for his inappropriate and divisive comments.”
However, Mr Hansen said that he will not step down and that his comments were “taken the wrong way”.
“There was absolutely no malice in it at all,” he told the Fraser Coast Chronicle.
“Essentially it was a question that was taken the wrong way."
“Maybe I should have phrased it in a different way, I don’t care if you’re black, white or brindle.”
“People took it the wrong way, that’s why I took it down.”
