‘Can you just shut up?’: Cumberland Council meeting descends into screaming match
An extraordinary screaming match has erupted at a Sydney council meeting after a local member told his female colleague to “shut up when I’m talking”.
Labor Mayor Ola Hamed was forced to call a 15-minute adjournment during Cumberland City Council’s meeting on Wednesday night after the
shocking row exploded between Ahmed Ouf and Diane Colman,Cr Ouf, an independent, was speaking in support of a motion about the city’s 2026 Easter Extravaganza nearly two hours into the meeting, when he hit out at apparent interjections from the Labor councillor.
“Can you just shut up when I’m talking, OK?” Cr Ouf snapped.
“I beg your pardon, Councillor,” Mayor Hamed interjected.
“When I’m talking this is my time, not your time,” Cr Ouf told Cr Colman. “When I talk, you shut up, OK?”
“Oh, point of order, Mayor, point of order!” Cr Colman called out.
Cr Ouf asked, “Why is she talking while I’m talking? Why is she taking from my time?”
Cr Colman yelled back across the chamber, “How dare you!”
Cr Ouf hit back, “You just keep your mouth shut while I’m talking. I never, ever spoke when you were talking or having time.”
At that point Cr Colman leapt to her feet and exploded.
“You cannot speak to me like that!” she screamed.
“You show respect! You show respect!” Cr Ouf yelled back.
“You show me some respect!” Cr Colman went on. “How dare you speak to me like that! How dare you!”
Cr Ouf said he was “not intimidated, not 100 of you”.
“This isn’t the first time women councillors have been publicly disrespected at Cumberland Council, as you can see by my reaction,” Cr Colman told news.com.au on Friday.
“There’s been a pattern of bad behaviour towards women on our council for a very long time.”
She noted that a 2023 survey by the Australian Local Government Women’s Association (ALGWA), where she sits on the board, found 61 per cent of female councillors had experienced bullying and harassment.
“This is a direct demonstration of the misogyny that’s endemic in our society,” she said.Cr Christou said in “any other workplace there would have been disciplinary action and instant dismissal”.
“This needs to be looked into, you can’t rug pull it, someone has to speak up,” he said.
“I’ve previously raised concerns about behaviours. At some point, just because you’re in the public sphere doesn’t mean you get a free pass to do what you want. No other workplace would tolerate this type of behaviour.”https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/can-you-just-shut-up-cumberland-cou... 
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