A regional New South Wales council has abandoned a controversial plan to ban the display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, after receiving almost 700 submissions criticising the idea.

But because of council procedure, the flags were removed anyway – at least temporarily.

The Federation Council stretches from Corowa on the Murray River to Urana and the Newell Highway in the federal electorate of Farrer. Mayor Cheryl Cook first floated the idea last November as part of an amendment to the council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait protocols document.

It also proposed not allowing welcome to country ceremonies for council events unless they were “approved by an adopted council resolution”.

The proposal was then put out for community consultation. The majority (78%) of the 884 public submissions received opposed the idea, with only 100 submissions – or 11.5% – in favour.

Most of the submissions were made by people living outside the region. Of those who lived in the shire, 84% (266 submissions) opposed the proposed policy and 16% (44 submissions) supported it.

A rowdy council meeting in Urana on Tuesday morning resulted in a split vote, with four councillors supporting removing the flags and three opposing. A final councillor, Derek Shoen, abstained to vote.

Shoen instead put an alternative motion suggesting that council instead go back to developing its reconciliation action plan (RAP) alongside Wiradjuri and Bangerang traditional owners because he said “due process has not been undertaken” when the flags were first installed.

“This is why we have come to this divisive situation,” he said. “I reckon the reconciliation action plan should be finalised before we introduce protocols.”

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags have been hanging inside the council chambers at Corowa since 2022. They are not hung on external flagpoles. Shoen said only hanging the flags inside chambers was “tokenism”.

“I think the places for flags are out the front on the poles. That’s where flags should be flown, not in the chamber,” he said.

“The delegation [of traditional owners] that came to council, they said the Aboriginal community said that they feel … welcomed if they see the Aboriginal flag.”

Shoen’s motion passed five to four – but the flags were still removed, because there had never been a formal resolution to certify their installation.

The vote comes 18 months after 50 neo-Nazi’s marched through the streets of Corowa. In public submissions, some locals argued that removing the flags could send the wrong message.

“Removing the flags doesn’t stop racism, it rewards it,” one submission said.

Another submission from a local resident said they had grown up in Corowa and that there were “very few positive messages or representations of First Nations Culture” in the area. They said that had led to them developing a bigoted attitude, which they had since changed.

“This contributed to a complete lack of understanding of our country’s history and culture, and sadly developed my own intergenerational racist attitudes and bias towards Aboriginal peoples,” they said. “I have reflected a lot, and challenged these attitudes as my life experience and knowledge has broadened. I am proud that my children have a much greater exposure to Indigenous culture than what I had.”

In November, Cook said the proposal was intended to unite the town as a “single, cohesive community under one sovereign emblem”, and that she heard “strong feedback” from ratepayers, who wanted the flags removed and welcome to country ceremonies restricted.

She stood by those comments on Tuesday, saying it was “extremely clear” from public submissions that while many saw the three flags flown together as “united and respectful”,many also saw it as “divisive and contentious”.

More than four in five submissions by ratepayers supported flying all three flags.

“This is a reality of speaking with many, many ratepayers throughout our shire. It’s more than submissions,” Cook told the meeting. “I’m sorry, it’s called talking to people in the public.

“No matter what the decision is made shortly, we surely must know from our own life’s journey, that it is impossible to please 100% of the people, 100% of the time and that is life’s reality.”

The meeting was cut short after members of the public gallery chanted “shame” and “stolen land” as Cook was trying to speak.