Concerns over council’s midnight debates

CONCERN has been raised over the long agendas of City of Ballarat council meetings that can see councillors required to make decisions after midnight.

The most recent council meeting saw important issues including debate on the Ballarat Gold Mine tailings dam, residents having pets in the Sanctuary, and the approval of the draft budget on the agenda and went until 1am,

As a result, deputy-mayor Cr Amy Johnson called for less packed agendas where some issues saw significant debate, while others were rushed through.

The meeting held on Wednesday 28 July saw discussion about the draft budget begin just before midnight.

By the time the item was addressed the meeting had already been going for five hours, and Cr Johnson said the lack of discussion on the budget was disappointing as it was an important issue.

“My last item is to draw your attention to the fact it’s 10 past 12 and I find it disappointing that arguably our most significant item, which is our budget, was debated after 11.30pm to an empty gallery,” she said during the meeting.

Cr Johnson said that usually the budget is an item which all councillors speak to, yet on this occasion that was not the case and it may be due to the fact it was nearly midnight.

“The reality is, if we are going to have a packed agenda, let’s take some action ahead of the moment when we end up here at midnight,” she said.

She suggested in future it would be beneficial to remove some of the items which weren’t urgent or to hold a separate meeting to hear community submissions on subjects that attract high levels public attention.

“If there are a number of items on the agenda that attract a significant amount of community interest, it would be better to schedule a separate meeting to hear submissions and hold over the actual decision to the council meeting,” said Cr Johnson after the meeting.

“There have been a handful of occasions in the past where separate meetings have been held to hear submissions and this is certainly something that I support.”

Cr Johnson said there are also potential problems with the ability of councillors to make clear decisions when they have been concentrating for long periods of time.

“It’s concerning because a number of councillors will have already worked a full day before arriving at the Town Hall at 5.30pm and expecting councillors to still be able to concentrate and make sound decisions approaching midnight is unreasonable,” she said.

While the number lengthy City of Ballarat council meetings has reduced in the current term of council, it wasn’t uncommon for sittings to run past 12pm and even 2am on some occasion.

Cr Johnson said meetings ending late at night and early in the morning also reduced the ability for people to listen to issues being discussions, whether in the pubic gallery or via the live video stream.

“This isn’t fair on residents either because they may be waiting to hear an item on the agenda which may not be debated until quite late at night,” she said.

“It’s all about ensuring our community has appropriate and accessible opportunity to engage with councillors.

“I wouldn’t say that debating items at 11.30 at night aligns with being accessible.”