COMMUNITY members are fighting to stop Bathurst Regional Council from reducing their allotted time to speak at public forum by as much as 40 per cent.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Council is set to adopt its draft Code of Meeting Practice document at Wednesday night's meeting, which currently includes limiting the speaking time at public forum to three minutes per person.
At present, people are able to speak for five minutes.
The move has sparked outrage amongst regular public forum attendees, who are fighting to keep their precious five minutes.
Council received 28 submissions during the exhibition period of the draft Code of Meeting Practice, with almost all of them objecting to the reduction in public forum speaking time.
A summary of the submissions is provided in a report from senior council staff, however the full submissions are not included in the attachments.
In a statement to the Western Advocate, council said "full copies of each and every submission have been provided to the councillors, and have been considered by the councillors prior to the report being presented".
With the draft Code of Meeting Practice now set to be adopted, community members are planning to use Wednesday's public forum to make a final appeal to retain the five minute time limit.
Residents Kent and Dianne McNab, who used public forum consistently to lobby council to put a roundabout at the intersection of Mitre, Suttor and Lambert streets, have been coordinating the effort.
"I've advised them to come along and I'm hoping it is a packed gallery on Wednesday night," Mr McNab said.
He said that the ability to speak for five minutes is essential to convey important issues to the councillors.
"Five minutes is absolutely important. We've spoken 59 times at council and we practise it and you need it," he said.
"... You can only speak once a month. Any less than five minutes is not worth it."
He anticipates the argument for reducing the time will be that residents can call or email councillors directly about matters they wish to raise.
However, Mr McNab said it has been his experience that most councillors don't reply to emails or return phone calls.
"They're not responsive all," he said.
The McNabs have at least one former councillor in their corner.
Alex Christian, who missed out on re-election in 2021, lodged a submission on the Code of Meeting Practice calling on the five minutes to be retained.
He said that any reduction in time would be "totally unacceptable" and, if he were still in the chamber, he would support residents' wishes.
"To me, it's the whole point of local government. It is the fundamental value that anyone in the community can come in and personally address the councillors. That's the very essence of local government," he said.
"I'd be voting for the maximum time allowable out of respect for the community, because ultimately it is those people that speak that put these councillors in these positions to make decisions, and to basically say you want to shut them up, I can't believe it."
In their report, senior council staff have provided councillors with three alternate motions regarding speaking time at public forum.
These are for five, four or three minutes, with a warning bell to sound when a speaker has one minute remaining.
A table provided in the report shows that the majority of regional city councils allow speakers five minutes each, however, they are typically restricted to speaking on agenda items.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News