It's been described as 'The Wollongong Walkout'. In unprecedented scenes, all five Wollongong Council delegates, including the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, stormed out of the recent National Local Government Association (ALGA) Congress over what's been described as a "shocking" keynote speech.

The prestigious event was at the national convention centre in Canberra from June 24-27 and 1,300 delegates representing councils across the country packed in to discuss and debate issues of concern.

Wollongong's Deputy Lord Mayor, Cr Linda Campbell, said the conference started smoothly enough "with one of the most beautiful Welcomes to Country" and an excellent speech by the federal Minister for Local Government, Kristy McBain. Then came a 20-minute speech by the Shadow Minister, National Party MP Anne Webster. Her speech mentioned Aboriginal cultural heritage disputes in her Victorian electorate which several delegates described as "insensitive" and "really disrespectful".

While acknowledging the Shadow Minister was very new in the role, Cr Campbell said "we can't listen to rubbish that's so divisive, and we were so embarrassed for a lot of Indigenous leaders in the room."

'We all stood up and left'

Cr Campbell said the five Wollongong councillors were sat together. "When the first comments were made we glanced at each other and waited to see what came next. As she went on, Tania [Brown, the Lord Mayor] went 'OK, let's go' and we all stood up and left."

At Monday night's Council meeting, Cr Campbell described the action as 'The Wollongong Walkout'.

"At conferences we don't always agree with what's being said but this was so not the time or the place to raise this debate. As we were leaving you could hear people saying 'shame' as the speech continued."

Cr Campbell said several members of the ALGA executive who were seated on the stage during the speech also joined the walkout. "It was just before the morning tea break and this was the buzz during the break. When we returned the Mayor of Palm Island took the stage and talked about how we can move forward together which was a good move by the organisers."

Stunned by what occurred

For newly elected Cr Jess Whittaker, this was her first national congress and she was stunned by what occurred. "The conference brings together so many Aboriginal leaders from across Australia. The speech started out OK but then went on this dive," she said, adding that picking out individual native title issues as the core of the speech was offensive.

"It was shocking. You go to these events where there's such diversity that you always expect to hear things that are a bit different. This was next level."

Cr Whittaker said walking out seemed the only option. "We all walked out together. I reckon there were about 100 people standing outside... Aboriginal leaders were talking to the ALGA board saying it was unfair that they should have to sit through that. The head of the board made it clear that what was said on the stage was not the position of his organisation."

It was disappointing coming from a federal MP, Cr Whittaker said.

Other Lord Mayors who joined the walkout described Dr Webster's speech as "tone deaf", "appalling", and "hugely inappropriate".

Shrugging off the humiliation of the mass walkout, the Shadow Minister told news.com.au she was "shocked" about the controversy. "I think it's a conversation we need to have."

She told news.com.au she'd only been in her job three weeks when she gave the speech. "It surprised me. Certainly. I was like 'Oh, they must have somewhere else to go?" she said. "That's what I was thinking as they were leaving. I certainly hadn't finished speaking. It's just one of those things, and it's certainly a good learning experience for me... this is a conversation, and different views need to be heard. I'm certainly keen to hear alternate views."

Cr Campbell was in no doubt the action she and her colleagues took at the Canberra conference was exactly the right thing to do. "What do they say, the standard you walk past is the standard you accept."