‘We can see your washing’: Confusion after politician joins meeting from bathroom
A New Zealand politician’s appearance in a Zoom call this week raised more questions than answers among her colleagues.
At the beginning of the Dunedin City Council meeting on Monday morning, Mayor Sophie Barker noted that two councillors would be attending online.
Washing could clearly be seen in the background of Galer’s ‘office’. Dunedin City Council
“We can’t see them yet. They are on the other side of the world, so it may take a little moment,” Barker said.
It took just over an hour before the council began discussing local government reform, during which time maverick first-term councillor Benedict Ong was kicked out of the meeting.
“You need to stop Councillor Ong, or you need to leave,” Barker warned Ong, who was then ordered to leave the meeting for bringing it into disorder.
Order soon resumed, until Councillor Jo Galer boomed onto the call with the statutory Zoom query, “Can you hear me?!”
At one point, a person appeared inside a shower, before moving away from the door as they seemed to be aware they had been seen. Dunedin City Council
“Yes,” Mayor Barker replied, as an unidentified person could be heard laughing, perhaps over the washing visible in the frame.
“You might want to move your camera,” Barker helpfully pointed out.
Order soon resumed, until Councillor Jo Galer boomed onto the call with the statutory Zoom query, “Can you hear me?!“.
“Yes,” Mayor Barker replied, as an unidentified person could be heard laughing, perhaps over the washing visible in the frame.
A layer of mystery was added when a figure was seen moving in the background of Galer’s screen. Dunedin City Council
“You might want to move your camera,” Barker helpfully pointed out.
“We can see your washing,” Barker explained.
“Umm, OK… can you see me?,” Galer inquired.
They could, Barker said.
The first-term councillor then shrugged and replied, “That’s great. You can see my washing, you can see me. That is no problem.”
But that’s not all that could be seen.
As Galer addressed local government reform, focusing on her key messaging of “frivolous” council spending, a dark shadow appeared behind a frosted glass door - possibly the shower door, possibly a door to another room.
Galer continued to talk about potential savings for ratepayers, with the black-clad apparition remaining behind the glass.
At one point, a hand could be seen reaching towards the frosty barrier before being pulled back, as if the person realised they were about to feature on a council meeting that - by Wednesday morning - had racked up nearly 2000 views on YouTube.
Galer has been approached for comment.
This article has been reproduced with the permission of Stuff
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