McRae – the former Town of Port Hedland councillor who travelled to russia to legitimise putin’s sham presidential “election”, praised an indicted war criminal on his “win”, and quoted a Nazi party member on russian state TV — has vacated his seat.
When McRae’s actions came to light in March 2024, the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations stood alongside the Ukrainian Association Western Australia and Port Hedland’s Ukrainian-Australians to call him out.
We wrote letters to Port Hedland councillors and WA government ministers, generated a community letter writing campaign, compiled victim statements from local Ukrainians for the special council meeting about the issue, and engaged the media.
WA Premier Roger Cook publicly condemned McRae as an embarrassment and called on him to resign.
Using elected office to whitewash putin’s regime and legitimise russian propaganda narratives has no place in Australian public life.
To the Ukrainian community in WA and Port Hedland — your advocacy mattered. Thank you to everyone in the community who raised their voice.
▶️ https://afuo.org.au/australian-ukrainian-community-denounces-putins-patsy-in-port-hedland/
▶️ https://afuo.org.au/recent-special-meeting-of-the-port-hedland-council/
#AFUO_in_Action #StandWithUkraine #StopRussianPropaganda #PortHedland #UAWA
