Bathurst council's public forum speaking time to remain at five minutes

On Wednesday night, Bathurst Regional Council resolved to keep the public forum speaking time to five minutes per person.

The Code of Meeting Practice document, which has now been adopted, had initially proposed to reduce the time to three minutes.

The prospect of losing 40 per cent of their time had regular speakers outraged.

There were 28 submissions received during the exhibition period of the document and on Wednesday eight people addressed the chamber during public forum to urge councillors to stick to the status quo.

"Quite frankly, the existing protocols should never have been challenged," John Hollis said.

"The implication is the public is not allowed the same time as councillors are given to address issues, etc. This is discrimination."

Fellow resident Jennifer Gray was among several people who pointed out that some people aren't confident public speakers and therefore need maximum time to convey their thoughts.

"I'm just concerned that shortening the time will be difficult for some people who are not familiar with public speaking or get nervous, particularly if it's a DA issue. That's an issue for them because it is both personal and very emotional, and I think we've got to given them fair opportunity to do that," she said.

Kent and Dianne McNab gave separate public forum addresses that highlighted how important their five minutes at public forum had been during their very public campaign for the Mitre-Suttor-Lambert street roundabout.

They said it was their chance to convey their concerns to all nine councillors at once.

"The public forum is the only time available for ratepayers and residents to speak to all councillors at the same time regarding issues or concerns they have with matters that involve council," Mrs McNab said.

"The public forum is only available once each month, so I do not consider that is an excessive drain on councillors' time."

Those who spoke on Wednesday had a much smaller crowd to convince, with only five out of the nine councillors in attendance.

The vote was unanimous, with Mayor Robert Taylor and councillors Kirralee Burke, Marg Hogan, Ian North and Andrew Smith in agreeance to keep the five-minute time limit.

They made it clear that the feedback received from residents on the Code of Meeting Practice was a major factor in their decision.

"The feedback we received with 28 submissions, the feedback tonight I thought was quite respectful, and well done, so I'm happy to support five minutes," Cr Smith said.

In addition to adopting the Code of Meeting Practice and keeping the public forum speaking time at five minutes, council resolved to have a working party to discuss future meeting structure.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: