City releases transparency and governance policies for comment

THE City of Greater Geelong council has invited the community to provide feedback on the council’s draft Public Transparency Policy and draft Governance Rules.
At a special meeting of council on July 21, councillors resolved to release the proposed policy and rules for public consultation.
The new policies must be adopted by the council by September 1 as a result of the passage of the Local Government Bill 2019 through state Parliament, which replaced the Local Government Act 1989.
Geelong mayor Stephanie Asher said the council specifically called the special meeting to release the two drafts as doing so at their July 28 meeting “wouldn’t have left enough time for an appropriate period of community feedback”.
“We want to give you all as much time as you need to read and digest the two draft documents, and give us any suggestions or ideas on how they might be approved.”
The draft Public Transparency Policy identifies council’s transparency and information sharing commitments, such as publication of meeting minutes, the city’s Annual Report and register of interests, and how residents can access this information.
It also outlines policies for the protection of security information and management of commercial and sensitive information.
Cr Jim Mason said transparency was a cornerstone of our democracy.
“This policy defines what can and cannot be made publicly available, and it ensures that trust and integrity in decision-making, how we can best improve access to information, and how we can reduce unnecessary hurdles and time-wasting red-tape.”
The draft Governance Rules describe how the council will make decisions fairly and conduct meetings, how records of decision-making processes are kept and procedures for how councillors and committee members can disclose indirect or direct conflicts.
Some of the changes to the rules include the inclusion of gender-neutral language and a new provision for conducting meetings remotely.
Cr Kylie Grzybek said she was pleased the draft governance policy had gender-neutral language.
She said she was “a little concerned” about some of the changes (without offering specific examples) but would reserve judgement “until we get all the thinking from the community”.
Cr Anthony Aitken said he was concerned about the changes proposed to councillors bringing a notice of motion, and foreshadowed he would propose an alternate policy.
“I do believe, as it’s currently worded in the draft, that they are too restrictive; they actually provide a restraint on councillors with one of what is their few democratic rights.”
To read both draft documents and make comment, head to https://yoursay.geelongaustralia.com.au/public-transparency-policy-and-governance-rules-lga-2020.