Donald Trump motion at City of Melbourne
October 13, 2024
Here is the text of a motion lodged by Cr Stephen Mayne that was debated in 2016 at the City of Melbourne in the lead up to the US presidential election. It was defeated 9-2.
That the Future Melbourne Committee authorises a
nominated councillor to:
Write to the chairman of the 15 largest US-domiciled
companies (excluding weapons manufacturers, gambling companies and large carbon
emitters) by market capitalisation extolling the virtues of relocating their
global headquarters to the City of Melbourne if Donald Trump is elected President
of the United States.
Background
Former Australian conservative Prime Minister John Howard
told 3AW listeners on April 26 that he “trembles” at the thought of someone as
“unpredictable” as Donald Trump serving in the White House.
Many major US corporates are equally concerned,
particularly after recent vituperative Trump attacks on the likes of Apple,
where the colourful property developer advocated a consumer boycott of Apple
products.
Other attacks on Mexicans and Muslims have also raised
global concerns about the divisiveness of a Trump-led US.
Whilst Trump's rise clearly represents a threat to world
peace and stability, it also creates opportunities for stable, peace-loving,
US-aligned, English speaking countries such as Australia.
Melbourne has been voted the world's most liveable city
by The Economist Intelligence Unit
for the past 5 years. And as arguably the world's most successful and cohesive multi-cultural
city, Melbourne is a great place for global companies to base their operations.
We are home to people from more than 200
countries, who speak 260 languages and dialects and practice 135 religious
faiths – all living harmoniously together.
In this Asian century, there is a compelling
case for major US corporates such as Apple, Google (now Alphabet), Facebook,
Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, Berkshire Hathaway
and Disney to relocate their headquarters from US cities to Melbourne, where
they will be welcomed and well governed at the city, state and Federal level.
City of Melbourne is home to one of the world's great
knowledge precincts in Parkville, featuring world renowned research institutes,
the University of Melbourne, major hospitals and Australia's biggest
pharmaceutical company CSL. The University of Melbourne's Parkville campus has
more international students than any other university campus in the world,
reaffirming Melbourne's status as a safe and welcoming international city.
We also have a thriving financial and services sector,
plus enormous tracts of land available at Fishermans Bend, Arden McCauley,
Egate and Docklands for inner-city urban renewal encompassing potentially large
purpose-built corporate campuses for relocating US companies.
A network of wonderful heritage parks, the world's best
inner-city sporting infrastructure and a vibrant 24 hour night time economy
round out the offer for those US corporates who don't fancy retaining their
global headquarters in a country led by someone as embarrassing and offensive
as Donald Trump.
Ends
And here is the Herald Sun's early coverage on the proposed motion.
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