Cessnock Mayor Daniel Watton has condemned comments made on a councillor’s Facebook page, describing the behaviour as “disgraceful” and saying it has no place in the community.

The comments were made during a discussion involving local doctors, with some users questioning whether the doctors spoke English and asking, “Where are the Australian doctors?”

Another user simply commented, “Ko thanks.”

Mayor Watton responded by defending local medical professionals and sharing his own positive experiences with doctors from culturally diverse backgrounds.

“From a personal standpoint, our family has two family doctors – Dr Wang from Cessnock Medical Centre and Dr Afzal from Good Practice Medical,” Mayor Watton said.

“Both of these incredible people are the best doctors we’ve ever had – regardless of ethnicity, background, or skin colour.”

The Mayor said comments targeting people because of their ethnicity, background or appearance were unacceptable.

“If you choose to carry on with this kind of behaviour on my post, do yourself a favour and unfollow me so I don’t have to block you,” he said.

The comments have sparked debate online, with some questioning whether they crossed the line into racism, while others argued the remarks were about concerns over language and Australian-trained doctors.

Mayor Watton said there should be no place for discrimination or prejudice in the Cessnock community.