Councillor suspended after menorah debate
Tom Humphries was suspended after describing councillors’ move to defer the menorah motion as antisemitic.
A Stonnington City Council arbiter has suspended Councillor Tom Humphries for four weeks for misconduct, after he made accusations of antisemitism during a debate over a community request to install a public Chanukah menorah.
The finding follows a complaint lodged in February by Councillors Steve Stefanopoulos, Jami Klisaris, Samantha Choudhury and Mayor Melina Sehr, and was handed down by arbiter Diana Price on September 12, ahead of this week’s council meeting.
The request began in May 2025, when Rabbi Reuven Cooper of Chabad Malvern proposed a publicly funded menorah to Councillors Humphries and Steve Stefanopoulos, who agreed to carry it forward.
It did not reach council until December 1, 2025, when Stefanopoulos moved to defer the motion, a delay that would have pushed discussion past Chanukah, ruling out hosting a menorah that year.
Humphries objected, calling the deferral “nonsensical, they’re an absolute affront to the Jewish community”, then declared it “nothing short of antisemitic to defer”. A visibly upset Stefanopoulos demanded a withdrawal, calling the comment defamatory; Humphries withdrew it only as it applied to him, not the broader accusation.
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