Council has recently placed a Draft Code of Meeting Practice on public exhibition, requesting input from community members via the Your Say Bathurst website by May 7.

Point 4.1 of the BRC Draft Code states that the purpose of the public forum is "hearing oral submissions from members of the public on items of business to be considered at the meeting".

To restrict speakers to only "meeting agenda items" would prevent members of the public bringing matters of concern or interest to the attention of their elected councillors. It would be a denial of free speech.

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A document titled Model Code of Meeting Practice for Local Councils in NSW is available to download from the website of the NSW Office of Local Government as a basis for councils to consider.

Of particular interest is section 4 of the Model Code relating to public forums.

Point 4.6 of the Local Government Model Code states: "The general manager or their delegate may refuse an application to speak at a public forum. The general manager or their delegate must give reasons in writing for a decision to refuse an application."

The wording in the BRC Draft Code is very different. This aspect is partly referred to in the BRC document under 4.15.

BRC point 4.15 reads: "Where a speaker engages in conduct of the type referred to in clause 4.12 [i.e. disorderly conduct or similar], the general manager or their delegate may refuse further applications from that person to speak at public forums for such a period as the general manager or their delegate considers appropriate."

BRC has not included the requirement that the "general manager or their delegate must give reasons in writing for a decision to refuse an application".

It should also be noted that the BRC Draft Code Public Forum section does not actually include the advice that people have to make application to speak on a specific subject, except that BRC 4.6 states: "Speakers at public forums must not digress from the item on the agenda of the council meeting they have applied to address the council on."

This is only an indirect reference to the requirement for applications; whereas the Local Government Model Code sets out in detail the need for applications in point 4.3.

The proposed lack of opportunity for community members to address council on any matters of interest or concern goes to the heart of democracy.

Now is the time (before 4pm on May 7) for community members to make their opinions known in respect of this draft code before it is voted on by councillors.